Spiced oak, cinnamon and sweet mellow vanilla are the first to welcome me in. Tobacco and slightly dark chocolate next, before the raisins and christmas cake delights embrace. Soft to start, faultlessly smooth. The perfect hug. No gentler touch even from a finger’s stroke on a lover’s cheek.

Old Salt is fermented from 100% pure sugar cane molasses, as opposed to sugar cane syrup, which is used to make most commercial rums. Using pure molasses is very tricky and less profitable, but absolutely worth the effort for the richness and depth. Triple distilled and oak aged, every drop is smooth and perfectly sippable. Don’t be fooled by the name, it doesn’t contain any salt.

We make our rum with molasses. It gives such immense depth and richness to the spirit that we are still head over heels with it. 

We kick off by mixing with great quality water, adjusting pH and oxygen content. Then add our unique yeast and ferment at a typically British temperature; no chance of a Caribbean 31 Celsius. A couple of weeks later we are ready to distill.

We distill twice in 200L copper pots, topping and tailing with precision and then it's over to Father Time for his part. But first pop our rum into a suitably prepared fine oak barrel.

We are a fan of ex-French red wine oak barrels, 225L. We’ve naturally played around with the strength of the spirit that goes into the barrel; the temperature the barrels are held at during aging and a few other bits we keep close to our chest.

After just two years of making Old Salt Rum it won best rum in the world in 2014. Where do you go from there? We learnt from our mistakes!

When we sip a glass of our five year old Old Salt Rum, we admire what it's made of itself. Its most volatile notes have escaped through the gaseous permeability of the oaks structure, displaced by polishing oxygen, catalytically playing matchmaker to a host of chemical interactions, spawning a panoply of layered aromatic and plat of flavoured delights.

Pure sugar cane molasses, sourced from around the world. No sugar cane syrup or salt added. 

It’s much quicker and easier to use sugar cane syrup to make rum (which is why most distilleries do). Using pure molasses is uncompromising, but utterly worth it for the end result.

We generally prefer our Old Salt Rum neat, or served with ice. It can also be complemented with ginger beer, ice, and a squeeze of lime, for a truly refreshing sip.  Or if you’re feeling extra indulgent, mix up a Maple Old Fashioned, using 50ml of Old Salt Rum with 10ml of maple syrup and a dash of Angostura bitters, and stir with ice. Strain into a lowball glass with ice and garnish of orange peel.