Rum, Jamaica. Distillery operational. Owner: Everglades Farms Ltd.

Independent & family-ownedKnown primarily in the rum, perfume and food industries, Hampden began to move out of the shadows in 2009 when the Jamaican government decided to disinvest from the national Jamaica Sugar Company and auctioned off its assets. The family-owned company Everglades Farms Ltd (owned by the Hussey family) secured the lot and became the owner of this gem which is now considered the alter ego of the Scottish distillery Ardbeg. This link with Scotland is no coincidence. Hampden Estate was bought in 1748 by Robert Stirling, who had left Perthshire (Scotland) in 1742. The Hussey family sells two expressions of its rum, including an Overproof which is particularly well-known in the bar and HORECA segment. But it was in 2017, when family-owned Italian (Velier) and French (LMDW) companies began distributing the first old rums, that Hampden really took off, rising to the ranks of the finest rums currently on the market.

Hampden Great House is a tribute to the Hampden estate, which was built in 1753 and spans more than 5,000 hectares in the Queen of Spain Valley in Trelawny. It has been owned by the Hussey family since 2009. The rum is a blend of various marks—featuring different ester contents—of Hampdens that are icons of the house style.