Worthy Park 109

         Worthy Park 109

Worthy Park Estate is in St. Catherine Parish, close to the center of the island of Jamaica. With an elevation of 1,200 feet and covering over 10,000 acres, the estate devotes 40% of the property to growing sugarcane. The cane is processed at the estate’s sugar factory, and the molasses are transferred to the distillery. After their fermentation process, their rums are created using Forsythe copper pot stills. The rums for the Worthy Park 109 rum are comprised of a blend of light-ester rum that has been aged for three years in used Bourbon casks, and a small amount of unaged, high-ester rum. The rum is then blended to 54.5% ABV and bottled at the estate for the global market.

                   Appearance

The bottle is a standard short-necked 750-ml bottle secured with a black metal screw top. The labels provide the basic details about the rum and the required legal disclaimers.

In the bottle and glass, the liquid holds a caramel-walnut color. Swirling the rum in the glass creates a thin band that slowly thickens, spinning off a couple of fast-moving legs, then beads up and releases a few slow-moving legs down the glass.

                          Nose

The aroma of the rum delivers a heady combination of tropical fruits, cacao, caramelized vanilla, brown sugar, and light roasted coffee.

                        Palate

The first sip conditions the mouth with a swirl of crème brulé and alcohol. The fruit notes from the aroma enter the profile during the second sip, delivering a tart manifestation of cherries and pineapple, followed by honeyed dried banana chips, brown sugar, and an acidic anise-driven vegetal note. As the finish begins to form, a complex dark roasted coffee-salted almond dark chocolate note manifests and drifts with a long bittersweet finish.

                      Review

This rum originally caught my attention during the development phases because the Worthy Park Estate team was looking to create something in the “Gunpowder Proof” range. I tend to enjoy rums in this proof range, and this product was interesting to me, managing to be in some ways simplistic and complex at the same time. In some ways, it fills the gap between Worthy Park’s rum dedicated to cocktail ingredients and their sipping vintages. For many, this is a tough sipping spirit, while some imbibers will revel in the trickiness of the profile. I would be curious to hear what some of my cigar-smoking friends think of it and how they would pair it. In a cocktail, it makes a nice float in a tropical cocktail like a Mai Tai, the only way I had experienced it before this review, but it also provides a pleasant boost to traditional highball cocktails and punches and is great in a Shrunken Skull, switching out the Demerara rum with this rum.

Considering its availability, I will keep Worthy Park Estate 109 on my backbar to use for its versatility. When I was shopping for a rum to review, the price surprised me a bit, and I was not sure what to expect but was hoping for the best and to be well rewarded for the investment. I encourage anyone who enjoys using rums from Jamaica in their cocktails to give this one a try.