A meeting of two spirits companies with a cult following: the Jamaican Long Pond estate and the esteemed Italian rum bottlers, Velier.

This single estate rum bears the initials VRW, which was traditionally the cask mark of Vale Royal Distillery, which was found in the Trelawny Parish, north-west Jamaica. The distillery closed in 1959, and this bottling, produced at Long Pond in 2006, attempts to emulate the style of this lost Jamaican producer.

This bottling is made in the Wedderburn style, one of the four original classifications of Jamaican rum, used to refer to rums with 200/300 grams of esters per hectoliter of pure alcohol (gr/hlpa). Traditionally, the VRW mark was applied to rums with 150/250 gr/hlpa.

Long Pond employed an open fermentation This rum is the product of just 11 barrels, having been distilled in a traditional double retort pot still from molasses.

The result is a rum of a rare style, which opens with sharp flowers, followed by estery banana and earthy spice flavours of coriander, anise and nutmeg, alongside a little nuttiness (almonds, hazelnuts), bright red fruit, cedarwood, hogo, pears, apples, dried fruit, under ripe mangos, crushed pineapple, vanilla and dark chocolate. The mouthfeel is hot and thick.

This rum was aged in the tropics for 12 years, and had an angel’s share of more than 60%. The rum is bottled at a generous strength of 62.5% ABV, without colouring, filtration or additional sugar.

This is the perfect bottle for those drinkers who are hungry for information, and eager to discover more about the history of rum.

Just 3,412 bottles were available worldwide.

• Product type
  Dark
• Distillery / brand
  Long Pond
• Country
  Jamaica
• Distillation date
  2006
• Age
  12 years old
• Non-chillfiltered
  Yes
• Natural colour
  Yes
• SKU
  034130