How do you open a rum distillery in a region renowned for its peated whiskies? That was the question that was always in the back of my mind growing up in the scotch whisky hub of Islay, fascinated by distilling, but loving rum.
In 2022 the doors to Islay Rum finally opened and it was time to find out. In this article I’ll do a deep dive into Islay Rum, from my roots scrambling over barrels as a child, to my favorite cocktails and go-to drams.
Distilling Rum In The Heartland Of Peated Scotch
Possibly the questions we get asked most frequently is why we are producing whisky in a region renowned for peated whisky. The answer is fairly simple; Rum is what I like to drink!
I grew up in Port Charlotte and Bruichladdich, and when I was young we would scramble over the old whisky casks and peek in windows to see what was going on. Distilleries are noisy, smelly and generally intriguing places so I think my interest in the industry started from a young age.
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When I started drinking alcohol I began with rum. It was easy to get the standard spiced and white rums and I was always drawn—like many others in their early drinking years—to the sweet mixers that naturally paired with rum. Even though I didn’t want to drink the whisky itself, the way it was made was fantastic to me. My enjoyment of rum combined with my natural curiosity of how distilleries worked from a young age led me to wonder what a rum from Islay would be like.
Fast forward to my early 20s and I began exploring different aged and unaged pure rums. I couldn’t get enough of how vast the category was and how much location, still type, raw materials and personal preference played a part in the end spirit. It was then I decided to really put effort into opening Islay’s first rum distillery.
After a few years I was introduced to the guys at the Vintage Malt Whisky Company who had bought the old lemonade factory we now distill in. They wanted to go into the production side of the industry rather than just bottling whisky and on our first meeting I pitched the idea of doing a traditional rum, which they seemed to like the idea of. Fast forward a few more years and here we are. I can never stress how amazing the team at the Vintage Malt Whisky Company have been, without them this project would have never happened at the scale we have been able to accomplish today.
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How Does Rum Distillation Differ From Whisky?
The fundamentals of distilling rum and whisky are very similar; for both you take a sugar source, ferment it, and then distil the resulting low alcohol wash to achieve your spirit. For whisky they start with barley, whereas for rum we use a form of the Sugarcane plant as our sugar source.
By legislation the sugar source for rum has to be either fresh cane juice, cane syrup or molasses. As we can’t grow our own cane in Scotland (yet!) we opt to use molasses as it travels the best coming from its respective countries. The molasses comes in a thick syrupy form that we mix with water to make up our wort, we then add a distillers yeast much like they do in scotch whisky to ferment this wort into a wash of about 9% alcohol over the course of 7 days. This wash is then pumped into the body of the still where we heat it with steam though an element in the base of the still, the alcohol in the wash begins to evaporate and make its way through the retorts which hold what we call “low wines” and “high wines.” These low and high wines are the leftover spirit that we didn’t keep for our “hearts” cut in the previous distillation. As the vapor moves through the low and high wines it gains strength from the remaining alcohol in them. By the time we collect our spirit from the spirit safe at the end it is around 86%.
That is a basic idea of what we do at Islay rum, some variations in wash make up can occur when we want to change the type of spirit we make. We also ferment for extended periods of time to create more complex rums.
Experimenting With Islay Rums
As well as experimenting with fermentation and wash make up we have also been creating aged rums. This is a project that is close to my heart. We have just released our first aged rum, which is only one year old and it’s already been received very well. As we look at older maturation periods I cannot wait to see how the impact of maturing in the Islay climate impacts the spirit.
Yeast and long ferments are at the heart of our Uine Mhor series. The first release was very popular and I’m keen to introduce the second batch to the market soon.
Tips For New Rum Drinkers
If you are looking to try more interesting and craft rums then my first tip would be get yourself to a good rum bar with knowledgeable staff. Being able to sit and try a selection of different rums styles without having to commit to buying a whole bottle is a fantastic way to figure out what style you like.
I also think that cocktails are a great way to showcase rum and introduce them to a new audience—remember I started with rum and mixers. One of the first cocktails like to I make with a new rum is the daiquiri as it’s simple, short and strong. In my opinion a daiquiri is one of the best cocktails to really showcase the rum going into it. For those coming across from the whisky side you can’t go wrong with a rum old fashioned.
The Long Rise Of Rum
There have been rumors of rum being the next big thing for a few years now and I often get asked about my opinion on the predictions. From my position in the industry I think rum is coming from strong foundations. The rise of rum has been years in the making rather than the overnight boom we seemed to see with gin. And that is absolutely fine by me.
To quote Lao Tzu “the flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long.” I would rather rum be a steady fixture in people’s drinks cabinets than a fleeting phase and I think thats what the slow growth is enabling. Rum is growing steadily and organically which can only be healthy for the category.
The secondary market is another interesting side of the rum industry. One which I have mixed feelings about. The main benefit for me is that it can help introduce people in a spirit and I’m seeing a wide scope of new consumers become excited about rum as a category.
As a creator of whisky however, In my mind rum is for drinking and enjoying, not sitting in a drawer never to be opened. The biggest negative is the barrier to some drinkers as it can also inflate the prices of bottles that were never supposed to be that expensive. My opinion is that if a producer releases a product with an RRP of £70 then that’s what it should be.
Picking A Favorite Rum
It’s difficult to pick a favorite rum as what I love depends as much on my mood as my palate. Equally, just like some people love peated whisky and some prefer un-smokey, what I enjoy may be different for you. But if you’re looking for a starting point or new drams to try, then then if I’m feeling like a single dram of something strong and punchy then a Hampden Estate or Caroni would do the trick. Then if I feel like something that is what I would call a “quintessential rum” then I would go for a Foursquare or Appleton Estate. Finally if I want to sample something closer to home, from the UK rum scene I would reach for Sugar House, J.Gow or Ninefold.
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