That’s the spirit! The rise of artisan rum

The smoked rum was inspired by a fire that ravaged a barn on Katherine’s farm a few years ago, and they use apple wood to smoke the spirit from the same site. The spiced rum, however, was developed to offer an alternative to the often overly sweet varieties normally available. ‘We thought it would be interesting to see what happens when you use whole spices to flavour the rum and not actually add any extra sugar during the process,’ says Katherine. ‘It resulted in a more grown-up drink with a drier finish, and the different flavours of the spices are a lot more pronounced.’

Katherine can’t see rum overtaking gin as the UK’s spirit of choice, but she believes there’s a huge gap in the market for premium rums that appeal to people who might have enjoyed mass-made rums when they were younger and are now looking for something more interesting or discerning to buy. Like gin, rum isn’t something people tend to drink neat (although Burning Barn’s smoked rum is smooth enough to enjoy on its own over a few ice cubes). Instead, the more pronounced flavours of top-quality rum complement mixers like cola or ginger beer in a more nuanced way.

Want to taste the new generation of artisan rums yourself? Here are the best bottles at the forefront of the craze.

Burning Barn produces two rums – a unique smoked rum and their own spiced rum, which is infused by hand in the West Midlands with vanilla, allspice, chilli, coconut and ginger. The use of whole spices means the individual flavours are much more pronounced, and the lack of added sugar results in a drier, more grown-up finish.

burningbarnrum.com

From the first rum distillery in Scotland, Dark Matter is an award-winning spirit made by two brothers using a molasses-based spirit with punchy notes of clove, cardamom and pepper.

darkmatterdistillers.com

Made from the finest British Caribbean sugar cane, this rum is blended by London-based distillery The Poshmakers, who take expressions from Trinidad, Jamaica and Barbados for a vanilla-forward spirit with plenty of sweet, caramel flavour.

theposhmakers.com

From Newquay in Cornwall, Bombo is an homage to the pirate tradition of blending rum with sugar and spices. Caramel, spices and fruit give it a tropical finish, and they also produce a coconut-infused variety for a sweeter experience.

bomborum.com

This Scottish company infuses a base spirit with root ginger, vanilla, chilli and other spices to create small-batch rum with a subtle kick at the end. Everything is bottled and labelled by hand, and every batch contains just fifty bottles.

solwayspirits.co.uk