RUM is one of my very favourite drinks. I’m certainly not averse to a cocktail or two, but I prefer to sip my rum straight from a large, ice filled tumbler. It is made the world over, but its spiritual home is very much the islands of the Caribbean where it is made from either molasses or sugarcane juice.
Distillation can be in a pot still (for richer, fuller flavours) or a column still (resulting in smoother, lighter styles), or a combination of the two. Following the distillation, the spirit spends some time in oak barrels. Due to the temperature and the humidity, the maturation is much more rapid than in the Scottish whisky industry. (Having as we do, slightly lower temperatures than you tend to find in the Caribbean). So, a ten year old rum matured in Barbados could have a similar level of maturity to a 25 year old single malt from Scotland.
Rum has had strong links with the Royal Navy since 1655 when the British fleet took the island of Jamaica. Until then, the sailors had received a daily ration of French brandy. With sudden access to so much rum, it was decided to swap allegiances and the sailors were given half a pint of rum per day. This daily ration was known as a ‘tot’ and the practice continued until 31st July 1970 (Black Tot Day) when somebody high up thought it might be an idea to have more sober sailors in charge of their increasingly expensive vessels.
Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva 40% (Waitrose, £42.50). This is a beautiful dark golden rum made in Venezuela from molasses in a copper pot still, and it has been matured for up to 12 years. It’s wonderfully rich and fruity with notes of spice, fruitcake, orange oil and toffee.
Hoxton Banana Rum 40% (Inverarity One to One, £33.99 50cl). I love this one…it’s a blend of rums from Barbados, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic and it has been carefully crafted by Gerry Calabrese. Dried and fresh bananas are macerated in the liquid for five weeks but the banana flavour doesn’t completely take over in the glass. The balance is wonderful. The only disappointment is the size of the bottle.
Plantation Pineapple Stiggins’ Fancy 40% (Inverarity One to One, £34.99). Another fruit bomb, this time made by cellar master Alexandre Gabriel. It was never really intended to be launched commercially with Alexandre making only two barrels initially. It was so well received, he realised it had to become part of their portfolio. The pineapple rinds are added to the white rum for a week, while the fruit spends three months in the dark rum. The two components are then blended and aged in cask for three months before release. The unusual name is a nod to a character, Reverend Stiggins from the Pickwick Papers who had a particular penchant for pineapple rum. Cheers!
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here