Background
By the time I got seriously into rum, I had missed out on the chance to try any of the first batch of the National Rums of Jamaica/Velier series. When I heard that they were back in 2022 with a new release, I knew I couldn’t pass it up. That release was the Cambridge 2010, a twelve year old bottling of Long Pond’s ST♥CE marque, which contains an estimated ester count of 550-700 gr/hL AA. It was pot distilled from molasses, fully aged in the tropics, and bottled at 57%.
Tasting
Wood glue and pencil shavings take the lead on the nose. Beneath the carpentry notes are cooked blueberries, custard, and old cupboard spices like dried ginger and cinnamon. I also get some old, slightly spoiled iced tea.
The palate introduces some mint and cola, but the fruit and spice notes are still at the center of the show. The old iced tea returns too, but now there’s some lemon juice in the tea, adding both tartness and citrus essence.
Verdict
I really like this. ST♥CE is fantastic unaged, and apparently it’s pretty great aged too. The oak influence is heavy, but the character of the distillate isn’t lost even after twelve years of tropical aging.
Sadly, I have not had the pleasure of tasting aged TECA or TECC, and I fear that I never will. Despite how much I enjoy the Cambridge, it makes me a little wistful when I drink it because I can’t stop thinking about how good its more estery siblings could be. Allow me to express this melancholy in a poem:
You’re quite the conundrum, oh, STCE!
You cause me vexation yet fill me with glee!
You see the heart missing—now, why would that be?
My heart belongs only to TECC.
… even so, the Cambridge is a solid (8/10).