u/ShitImDelicious

Disclaimer: I don’t know anything about reviewing rum or notes or hints or any of that stuff, so I’m just speaking from the heart here.

Alright I admit it, I have to stop thinking of these incredible rums as a sort of cross breed with other spirits. But the first thing that came to mind when I sipped this was a sort of light smokiness, I think? So I immediately thought “Oh, it’s like scotch-rum.” If that makes any sense? I don’t fucking know man. Either way, this is incredibly tasty stuff. This tastes like a special occasion type of rum. I was lead to Hampden Great House because I was told it’s a natural step above my favorite rum, HLCF. I have to say, while I do love this rum very dearly, I’m not sure if I like it more than HLCF. I have to have HLCF soon after this again to remind myself. Anyways, this shit is very good. I’m not sure how the 2025 stacks up against other years but I just chose this one because it’s the most recent that I could snag. Highly recommend, especially if you like a little bit of smoke.

Rating: 8.0/10

Edit 2: If you download the image, it should improve the quality!

Edit: So disappointed the image quality didn’t come out better upon upload! Well, here is the text of the legends for figures 1-6 in their orders on the legends (left to right starting in the upper lefthand corner of the figures, hopefully the colors in the figure legends are clear enough to correspond with the proper text bullet below).

Figure 1 — 2019 Old-Age Dependency Ratio

• < 25
• 25 to < 50
• 50 to < 75
• 75 to < 100
• ≥ 100
Gray = No Data

Figure 2 — 2024 Old-Age Dependency Ratio

• < 25
• 25 to < 50
• 50 to < 75
• 75 to < 100
• ≥ 100
Gray = No Data

Figure 3 — OADR 2024 Hot Spot Analysis

• Cold Spot (95% CI)
• Not Significant
• Hot Spot (95% CI)
Gray = No Data

Figure 4 — GWR Local Coefficient of Labor Force Participation Rate

• −1.783 to −1.560
• −1.559 to −1.330
• −1.329 to −1.100
• −1.099 to −0.880
• −0.879 to −0.658
Gray = No Data

Figure 5 — GWR Local Coefficient of Median Household Income

• −0.000010 to 0
• 0.000001 to 0.000107
• 0.000108 to 0.000215
• 0.000216 to 0.000323
• 0.000324 to 0.000440
Gray = No Data

Figure 6 — GWR Local Coefficient of Seasonal Housing Share

• 0.004 to 0.087
• 0.088 to 0.165
• 0.166 to 0.247
• 0.248 to 0.329
• 0.330 to 0.415
Gray = No Data

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TLDR: Vermont is aging fastest where people can least afford to stay, vacation homes have replaced year-round ones, and the state has known about this trend for at least 20 years.

I'm sure this must be nothing new to some degree, I mean the Vermont legislators have known about this trend for at least 20 years. Dustin Degree wrote on Phil Scott's blog about how in 2006 the legislature’s Next Generation Commission was asked to “develop a plan to encourage Vermonters to live and work in Vermont” and later reported that "Vermont faces critical demographic shifts” and that we must “implement bold strategies immediately if it is to retain its economic vitality…” 

VT residents have been dying at a faster rate than they've been reproducing for nearly a decade (VT has the fastest shrinking population of any state as of 2024-2025 Census estimates) and VT has the single highest property tax burden in the country. I wanted to see if there were more precise geographic explanations for certain causes, and here are some highlights from what I found:

• South-central VT is the peak area of demographic unsustainability in the state
• Northeastern VT sees the worst concentration of vacation homes that are crowding out year-round residents and leaving behind communities of retirees with nobody working to support them
• Higher income towns in western VT are actually more demographically unsustainable because the money moving in is retirement money and not workforce money

This is just a fascinating project I worked on, but it highlights something that people already know in a more specific/geographic way. I'll likely use this project as a jumping off point to learn more about this. I know there are a number of limitations and future improvements here (time, resources, specific statistical tests run), and these four variables only explain 42% of the variance in the data, so there's a ton of room to expand.

Disclaimer: I don’t know anything about reviewing rum or notes or hints or any of that stuff, so I’m just speaking from the heart here.

This genuinely wow’ed me. I mean, it really does taste like a blend of tequila and rum. Not to mention I’m a person who loves high proof stuff, but this shit is HOT. I expected as much with it bottled at 70.3%, but I might have to start screwing around with adding a touch of room temp water to my pours to see if it elevates it at all. Seriously, this is incredibly tasty stuff. I’ve only ever had Uruapan Charanda Blanco and that stuff was delicious, but it was more on the tier of Planteray white where it was a trustworthy rum for daiquiris or something. This Alambique Serrano Cartier 30 is absolutely incredible.

Rating: 8.8/10

Cat-approved haul that I told myself would be the last irresponsible move I make before graduating college. Screw it! It was a rough ride, and I get to cross a lot of bucket-list items off with this one! 🏄🏻‍♂️

I’ve never had any of these and I’m trying to narrow down some choices. I’m a huge lover of Jamaican funk, and Hampden is easily my favorite distillery, but I’m also thinking about branching out.