Introduction
Rum “research and development” started in March 2019 when we were fortunate enough to benefit from a few days of free consultancy. After discussing style options, ingredients and production methods over the course of the three days we then, like all good things, changed most of the ideas!
Traditionally, rum is produced by making a wash from molasses, which is a by-product of sugar production. Molasses is a liquid, very much like treacle, and as you can imagine very difficult to move around when not warm. The British climate is nowhere near as warm as the Caribbean. As a result we were very worried about buying 1000 litres of molasses and then finding we could do nothing with it!
So we decided to go a slightly different route and make the wash from molasses sugar. This is very dark, thick, sticky sugar but is essentially solid. This sugar is dissolved in warm water, yeast is added and then we wait! Depending on the time of year the fermentation can be many weeks. Although a bit of a problem from the production point of view this adds loads of flavour.
Just to prove how research and development can go, we actually tried to produce a batch back in 2019 but didn’t like the flavour at the time. We’d used a bread yeast (which we got via ebay!) and thought there was too much lactose evident. The pandemic, lockdown and the need for sanitiser then occurred so we converted all that very first distillate into sanitiser, only to find out that a small amount we’d put to one side in a maturation experiment tasted amazing!! Hey, ho – that’s the way it goes.
Batch 1
Our very first batch, which was released on the 23rd of September 2022, was matured in new American oak for more than 12 months. This resulted in loads of colour and wonderful flavour. We have more maturing in oak now and plan to produce white and spiced versions over the coming months/years, so watch this space!
Batch 1 has now sold out and we are busy preparing batch 2. Keep checking back for updates on progress and when it will be ready for sale. In the meantime we suggest you investigate the Lads Rum selection as an excellent alternative
It’s bottled at 43% and is available in 70cl and 5cl bottles.
Our Golden Rum won the “Rum: Local Heroes: UK Based Production”
Following the release of our Golden Rum in late 2022 we were so chuffed to find out it won the “Rum: Local Heroes: UK Based Production” category of the People’s Choice Drinks Awards!! Here is a photo of the product with the award medal.
You can view our win together with all the other spirits categories on the People’s Choice Drinks Awards website by clicking the button below.