Hampden made quite the splash when it was decided that it would make a bid for a fully Sherry cask matured expression which was to be named "Pagos", taken to refer to the "Cru" classification in Jerez, Spain, where Sherry is popularly produced.

It was elaborated that through Velier’s role as distributor of Lustau’s Sherry (Bodegas Lustau is one of the most well-known Sherry producers), Velier chief Luca Gargano, was able to secure 40 Sherry casks (PX and Oloroso). 20 of these casks went into producing the first iteration of the Hampden Pagos, while the other half went into maturing the Haitian Clairins.

The hope here was to combine the intense Sherry flavours with the equally intense funky Hampden flavours - known for its overripe bananas, olive brine and rancio notes. All this under the intense tropical climate would hopefully produce something remarkable.

The first Hampden Pagos. (Image Source: Velier)

That said, with any first attempt at something, tweaks had to be made, and it was then explained that moving forward, subsequent Hampden Pagos releases would focus more on the Oloroso and less on the PX.

To that end, Luca announced that he's even secured an additional 180 Sherry casks, of which 80 butts were actual genuine Solera battle-worn casks (for 15 years at least), from Macallan’s coopers, Huberto Domecq.

And so, with the first Pagos under Hampden's belt, a second was always on the horizon.

Now, it looks like it's here.

On initial impressions, the labels are of course fairly similar, adhering to the classic Hampden style featuring details about the rum held inside.

But aside from the smaller optical changes such as the replacement of the sub-header from "Pure Single Jamaican Rum" to "Old Single Jamaican Rum", as well as the change on the bottom right stating " Natural Colour" and "No Sugar Added" to simply "No Colour Added" (let's hold off on the whole sugar debate for now), most of the information has remained intact.

Even the proof of 52% ABV of the bottling has remained constant.

However, when we take a closer look at the center column with the header "Avant-garde in aging", we spot a major difference in the second sentence.

The text reads:

"This rum was fully matured exclusively in 500-liter sherry butts, previously used for aging high quality Bodegas Fundador sherry in some of the most famous bodegas of Andalucia."

Instead of:

"This rum was fully matured exclusively in 500-liter sherry butts, previously used for aging high quality Oloroso and Pedro Ximenez sherry in some of the most famous bodegas of Andalucia."

Bodegas Fundador. (Image Source: Trip Advisor)

It appears that this potentially new edition of Hampden's Pagos will focus squarely on Bodegas Fundador sherry - said to be the first Spanish brandy.

Bodegas Fundador was the first winery established in the Jerez area of Spain, dating its establishment back to 1730. Its brandy has been marketed by Pedro Domecq Lustau, and while it produces a range of Sherry styles, its forte has been in Oloroso styled Sherry.

For the sake of posterity, we'll also leave the back label here.

Image courtesy of Hampden.

Kanpai!

88 Bamboo Editorial Team