Worthy Parks from Rum Nation: Unaged Jamaica Pot Still, 5yo Oloroso Finish, 7yo Cask Strength

So stop me if you've heard this one before. Someone who's already been in the spirits business for awhile, albeit in another part of it, decides to get into rum. They buy barrels of sourced stuff and then resell it under their own distinctive label, often as heavily "dosed" (i.e. given added sugar), often finished, usually partly aged in Europe, identifying only the country of origin and not the source distillery. And as rum gets globally more popular, they suddenly see a ton of business success.

Okay, yes, I know you think you know who I'm talking about, hang on.

Then about six or seven years back these folks take a hard left turn, releasing a hardcore unaged (and, indeed, undosed and unfinished and high-proof) Jamaican pot still rum. More of the like soon follow, and they slowly convert most of their range to what the Youtubers call "integrity bottlings." Higher proofs, little to nothing added, finishings are kept tasteful, not even really charging "extreme" (*cough*) prices for not doping up their rums. And suddenly, now that Foursquare and the like are coming to prominence, these folks who saw the light are left looking pretty good (while others... well, not so much).

Today, then, we take a look at Fabio Rossi's Rum Nation, and in particular this series of Jamaican offerings (acknowledged by everyone to be from Worthy Park) that seems to have spurred on the bottler's transformation. Stats:

Rum Nation Jamaica Pot Still Rum, Release 2015 (Worthy Park, unaged; 57% ABV), 87+/100
Rum Nation Jamaica Pot Still Rum 5 Year Old, Oloroso Sherry Finish (Worthy Park, finished in 2nd fill oloroso and PX for 15-18 months; lot L19 148; 50% ABV), 85+/100
Rum Nation Jamaica Pot Still Rum 7 Year Old, Cask Strength (Worthy Park, Release 2018, lot L18-134; 61.2% ABV), 89/100

Worthy Park has been a pretty consistent feature on this channel (see    • Worthy Park Rum Bar White Overproof Rum re...  , and    • Pot Still Rumparison: Hamilton St. Lucia 2...  , and most recently    • Worthy Park Single Estate Rum Reviews, Plu...  ), and Rum Nation really seems to know how to approach WP's particular synthesis of desserty and savory. The sherried option is probably going to get the most attention of this lot, but for me the stars are the unaged 2015 and the wonderful 7yo CS. At a mere 435,00 DKK, the latter in particular seems to me a better answer to Foursquare than any of WP's own official bottlings. Not bad for a bottler that initially made tons of money from sugary stuff like Ron Millonario, and proof positive that companies can change (and, indeed, see new success from changing).