Back in 2021 Watt Whisky released a 16 year old Clarendon Estate Jamaican rum. Post disgorging they’ve put that rum cask to further use in the maturation on their 9 year old Campbeltown Blended Malt Scotch Whisky. 20 months of finishing in a refill rum cask has resulted in 272 bottles at 56.8% ABV.
Nose: Rum! Ethyl butrate from the get-go – overripe tropical fruits, foam bananas, brandy snaps and a good scattering of golden sugars. Then, the Campbeltown elements take centre stage – semi-mechanised aromas of machine parts, BBQ briquettes sit with caramel wafers and tobacco leaves. Water here adds a ‘green’ note to the fruit whilst also offering waffles and a notably increased perception of that tobacco.
Taste: Rum! Pineapple, banana and high ester diesel, oily rags and exhaust fumes. Tingly pepper sits alongside toffee whilst felt roofing maintains the funk alongside notes of malty loaves. Dilution expresses more of the original cask and spirit with notes of funky workshop alongside slight salinity and golden, toasted cereals.
Finish: Rum! The theme runs right through to the end. Quite long and all on fading tropical fruits, dunder pits and residual cask char.
I’m not normally a fan of heavy finishing casks – but I’ll make an exception here. The combination of Campbeltown’s characterful spirit with Clarendon’s pot and column setup is a matchup of big hitting flavours that wouldn’t normally work in other more delicate arrangements. But here, the robustness of the underlying spirit (and initial maturation) has produced a union where each rowdy component somehow sings in bizarre harmony. I admire its sheer gutsiness….but I’m already a fan of punchy, high ester rum weirdness. Your mileage for this whisky will almost certainly come down to how much of a fan you are. It’s undeniably rum cask forward – and you’ll need to love the inherent character of that cask to love this whisky.