Background: probably the only bottling of aged Worthy Park juice confirmed to be of the WPM mark. I have heard from trusted sources this is kind of like the Forsyths WP 2005 on steroids. This was an impulse buy due to its irresistible “low” price of US$135 (considering how much alcohol is taxed in Singapore). Moreover, how could one go wrong with Worthy Park?

Nose: tree bark; pan-seared foie gras; liquorice; chocolate-draped korokke; exhaust fumes; gun oil; cream cheese; kvass; nutmeg; lemon curd; apple brandy; marzipan; burnt toast; Chinese fermented bean paste, a.k.a. dou ban jiang; fried plantain; apple strudel; black milk tea; menthol; raisins; umeshu; hay and plastic as base notes.

Palate: a sweet-savoury entry; remarkably oily; leftover frying oil; fritters of plantain and tapioca; salty liquorice; macadamia nuts; bittersweet almond paste; olive tapenade; charred, caramelised pork fat; something musty and earthy, somewhere between damp wood and grilled shiitake; caffè mocha with whipped cream; coconut tart; finally Worthy Park's signature bananas foster note appears on the back-palate, this time more burnt than usual.

Finish: long and rich; unripe papayas and bananas; stewed beetroot; celery and sugarcane juice; baking spices; cherries and currants and other cognac associations; roasted mandarin oranges, peel included; molasses and cream; an aftertaste of coconut shavings, fresh sugarcane, bitter chocolate and cream.

Conclusion: a very phenolic, if not too intense, Worthy Park. More complex and compact in flavours than I had expected. Most importantly, it is idiosyncratic to a fault; even among the Jamaicans (and other Worthy Parks), it stands out with its unique oily-starchy profile. There is a lot to admire, and dare I say enjoy, here.

Score (assuming a normal distribution with mean 50): 90/100

Image Courtesy of u/zoorado. 

u/zoorado