Transcontinental WP Jamaica 2013 57,18%

TRANSCONTINENTAL WP JAMAICA 2013 4+1 57,18%

Banana symphony

And here comes the first rum on Hors d’Age! This one is from Jamaica, more precisely from Worthy Park distillery (WP). It is a bottling of Transcontinental, an independent bottler launched by La Maison du Whisky in 2016. This rum is 5yo with specific aging: 4 years of tropical aging (in Jamaica) and 1 year of continental aging (Europe).

Colour: Hay, green lights. Heavy irregular tears.

Nose: Strong woody/herbal scents at first. Pinesap, linseed oil. Burnt smells. Coal smoke, burnt plastic a bit. That’s a wild beginning. Then it goes very sugary and a little buttery. Lemon sweets, citruses cake. A persistent exotic side dominates the nose (exotic fruits that remind me a little of the Cadenhead’s Dupont). Palm tree/cedar tree scents. Hints of young bananas. Quite a promising nose, even if I think I prefer the nose of the previous versions of this WP Jamaica 2013 (not the same aging, 2 years of tropical aging, 2 years and a half of continental aging). 

Palate: Rich texture with acid notes on the top of the palate. Banana cake for sure! A great fruitiness underlined by obvious pastry (buttery) notes. Delicious! Tinned pineapple and pineapple juice (with its typical acidity on the aftertaste). Olive oil. A bit of burnt caramel. Nice mouth length but maybe a little disappointing considering the ABV (57,18%). A delicate pepperiness in the background. Massive banana and pineapple aromas are sticked to the palate. It ends on herbal notes, the same that those perceived on the nose part. 

Last Notes: Banana liquor, fresh licorice, blood orange. Very heady scents. Still the burnt notes, especially on roasted hazelnuts and coconut powder. Some cocoa powder and bitter chocolate too. Burnt caramel again. Bourbon vanilla. A bit of cinnamon too. And the palate? Great pastry notes again, especially on flambéed bananas and banana sweets. Like the previous version of this rum, this is a banana symphony. The rich texture amplifies the buttery notes. It reminds me of pastéis de nata aromas. Vanilla cream. Candied citruses. Banana cake. It ends on almond paste, maybe roasted almonds too. Still few woody aromas, especially pine trees. Bang!

Warm and full of aromas, this WP Jamaica 2013 is the perfect rum to understand why Jamaican rums have their own DNA. For beginners and amateurs. A really nice cognalternative. 

My very subjective note: 88/100

WhiskyFun review of the previous version