Single Estate Reserve Rum

95 points, “A superb and aromatic example with layers of cooked fruit, orange peel, sweet spices and chocolate on both the nose and palate. The mouthfeel is rich and well-balanced with powerful flavour intensity and a lingering, spicy finish.” – International Wine & Spirit Competition 2020

Are you worthy of a bottle of Jamaica’s finest? Of course you are! And they don’t come much finer than Worthy Park Single Estate Reserve Rum…

Worthy Park Estate is rum royalty. Connoisseurs will be familiar with the name from independent bottlings and from The Duppy Share (where it is blended with spirit from another Harvey Nichols favourite, Foursquare). Established in 1670, the unbelievably verdant land the estate sits on – located slap bang in the middle of Jamaica and guarded by mountains – was ‘gifted’ to Lieutenant Francis Price by Oliver Cromwell when colonisation of Jamaica passed from the Spanish to the English. They began sugar cultivation fifty years later and rum production started in 1741, long before any other existing distillery on the island. Although distilling ceased for a while, Worthy Park Estate built a state-of-the-art distillery in 2005 and the exquisite new rum they’re producing is now coming of age, as the Single Estate Reserve proves.

Unlike many Jamaican producers, Worthy Park does not employ dunder or muck pits. So, don’t expect a big, funky offering like the rums from some of their neighbours. Worthy Park use their own yeast strains to achieve their unique flavour instead. This is a blend of copper pot still rums matured in ex-Bourbon casks for between six and ten years. Bottled at a punchy 45%, it presents a gorgeous combination of banana, coconut, chocolate-covered toffee, prunes, creamy coffee, gingerbread, tobacco and grass notes. We adore its super-original citrus character, something akin to orange peel, marmalade and Earl Grey tea, and Speyside Scotch sippers will find lots to love in its combo of vanilla, honey, caramelised nuts, granola and oak.

Having a decidedly whisky-like feel to it, we highly recommend sipping this rum neat or mixing it into a twist on an Old Fashioned. Worthy Park Estate’s Commercial Manager and Ambassador, Alexander ‘Zan’ Kong, agrees and has provided his own personal recipe below…

Rum Old Fashioned

• 60ml Worthy Park Single Estate Reserve
• 15ml Sugar Syrup
• 2 dashes of aromatic bitters

Method: Stir ingredients together in a rocks glass with ice. Garnish with orange peel and a brandied cherry.