Smith & Cross Traditional Jamaica Rum

Cap'n Jimbo's Rum Project called it Pusser's on steroids — and Saveur says this is how rum tasted before industrial production filtered out everything that gave it flavor. Smith & Cross is named for two 18th-century London rum traders, and Hayman's bottles it from Hampden Estate in Trelawny, Jamaica — the funkiest distillery on earth — as a badge of honor: 100% pot-still, only Wedderburn and Plummer distillates, the two heavy, high-ester styles of Jamaican rum that fell out of fashion generations ago. It's roughly half Wedderburn — the heavier, dunder-fermented style, aged six months — and half Plummer, aged eighteen months to three years in ex-bourbon oak, bottled at 57% navy strength without chill filtration or sugar; Difford's notes wild yeasts and open dunder pits in the fermentation. Drinkhacker found leather, sweet chimney soot, lightly barbecued meat, syrupy molasses, and flambéed banana — impressively rich and complex. Difford's: cooked pineapple, clove, black pepper, chili, tobacco, and vanilla, exploding on the palate with a surprisingly creamy mouthfeel. Distiller: overripe banana, leather, spice, molasses, and grapefruit, sweetness without the viscosity of added sugar. Rum Ratings: if Pusser's or Appleton 12 is too bland, try this — it will kick your ass. Honest note: it's built for the Mai Tai, the Zombie, the Navy Grog, the Kingston Negroni, and the Daiquiri, and hogo devotees sip it anyway. The bartender's Jamaican.

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