Two new installments have been added to The Whisky Jury‘s The Ester Hunter series recently. Both are H***D** rums with very high ester levels indeed. I just realized the entire series is dominated by this one distillery, right?
HD 2018 C<>H (64,3%, The Whisky Jury ‘The Ester Hunter’ 2025, Catch #5, bourbon barrel #CH-56)
Nose: lots of esters and hydrocarbons, diesel fumes, glue and faint acetone. Then new plastics, wet cardboard and massive pineapple funk. Some varnished notes and light wood. In terms of fruits it’s mostly a story of lots of briney lemons and a subtle dose of green banana. Hair spray too!
Mouth: massive and hot, I’d suggest to add water right away. It brings out more fruits like pineapple and peaches, along with lemon peels, green olives and an almost tannic drying effect of the esters. Nice sour notes, some industrial glue, paint and salinity.
Finish: very long, on vinegar and salt, lemon peels and heavy liquorice.
This is a brutal beast, immediately explosive until the last sip. The ABV is totally merciless, but it gets tamed easily without taking away much of the magic. Still available in a few places.
HD 2019 HGML (65,8%, The Whisky Jury ‘The Ester Hunter’ 2025, Catch #6, refill barrel #HG-ML-8, 231 btl.)
Nose: perhaps a bit riper and just a tad rounder, with overripe banana peels, some apple sauce and lime, rather than the lemon (peels) of the 2018. The woody side is also a bit more noticeable. Later this one becomes more industrial, with nice glue.
Mouth: yes, just a little more wood-driven I’d say, and more towards banana again, instead of citrusy notes. Banana ice cream even, along with pineapple, mango and lime. Then drying esters, some aniseed and a lot of liquorice. Slightly less salty and varnished this time, even showing a faint honeyed edge.
Finish: long, less sharp than Catch #5 again. Some tropical fruits, oak and brine.
The ester level may be a little lower here, but that may simply be caused by the juxtaposition. It’s still quite a beast. Equally good, it’s just a matter of extreme sharpness or ‘balanced’ sharpness. In my opinion complexity is a tad higher here. Still available from several partner retailers. Score: 90/100