BrewDog Spirits - Spiced Rum 70cl - 500 Cuts Rum

Product Information

The odour, texture and taste of light rums are more subtle and refined than those of heavy rums, which have a heavy, syrupy flavour to match their dark colour. The level of impurities in light rum is less than a third of those found in heavy rums. Distilleries producing light and heavy rums often blend the two to produce a rum having characteristics of both. The Matugga distillery was established in 2018 by husband and wife team Jacine and Paul Rutasikwa, who had been selling their range of rums since 2015.

Sugar cane contains about 75% water, 10-16% sugar and 10-16% fibre. The harvested cane is washed, chopped into short lengths and milled (pressed) to extract the water and sugar juice. Originally small batch distilled in England before moving production to Scotland, the rums draw inspiration from the couple’s Ugandan and Jamaican family heritage.

Bottling rum

Like all distillates, regardless of whether they are distilled in pot or column stills, all rums are clear when they condense after distillation. Colour in rum is the result of ageing in oak casks (and also the possible addition of caramel colour). White rum can simply be a sugar cane distillate watered down and bottled. The pH of the molasses will also affect fermentation and ideally will be in a range between 4.4 to 4.6 and this may be adjusted but the addition of the acidic residue (lees) left in the still after an earlier distillation. Dunder is the term given to lees which have been left in open dunder pits to concentrate the ester content and the acetic/butyric acids. Light or heavy rum

The Scottish rum recipe is based on the Sea Shanty ‘wellermen’ song which talks about ‘sugar and tea and rum’. In general, heavily-bodied rums are those with more congeners and they tend to be made in pot (alembic) stills. Pot (alembic) still rum production It is common for stills with retorts to have tanks under each retort where the low wines and the high wines are sent in preparation for charging the retorts above for the following distillation. The liquids placed in the retorts will have a dramatic affect on the finished distillate. For example the first retort may contain low wines mixed with fermented wash, dunder and even some high wines. Additives used to boost a rum's flavour include prune wine, chaptalized fruit juice, boisse, sugar, spice and flavourings. As for age statements, in many cases they are just that, statement and not fact. In the case of the best producers and regulated markets, these age statements (rightly) represent the age of the youngest rum in the blend. Others portray the average age of the rums in the blend and some are simply meaningless. Bottling rum For rum production ideally molasses should have at least 52% sugar content but sadly for the distillers there is no specification for molasses as this is a waste product of sugar processing. Thus a good sugar factory will produce bad molasses as it will have efficiently extracted most of the sugar. As the sugar processing industry becomes more efficient so the amount of rum that can be produced per ton of molasses is failing. Fermentation

Column still rum production

At the sugar mill, the cane is chopped and crushed to extract the juice which is boiled to reduce the water content and leave a syrup known as 'wet sugar', comprising approximately 30% sugar. This syrup is clarified and mixed with sugar crystals, which provide a core for the dissolved sugar in the syrup to crystallise on. This mixture is boiled and then cooled to encourage the sugar crystals to enlarge. It is then spun in a centrifuge to separate the crystals from the liquid. The sugar and molasses produced by the first process are termed A-grade and the second B-grade. The third batch of sugar produced by this process is known as Low-grade sugar and this is used to mix with the next batch of syrup to start the process again.

Molasses are so rich in nutriment that the yeast needs to be propagated and slowly introduced to progressively higher concentrations of molasses as its cell numbers increase. It is typical for rum distillers to talk about three or four-step fermentation in reference to the number of ever larger vessels used between propagation and the fermenters. The type of yeast used varies tremendously from country to country and distiller to distiller. This can be commercially cultured yeast or natural ambient yeast found on the leaves of the sugar cane. Revenge’ has been distilled in Orkney and then aged in ex-bourbon and virgin oak casks for three years. This authentic, handcrafted rum exists to subvert the Status Quo when it comes to the bloodline of this spirit. Distilled in the world’s first triple-bubble still, after a five-day fermentation it is then double-pot distilled to create a white rum rich in flavour of tropical fruit and dark berries.The team say it is "deliciously smooth and creamy. Notes of vanilla, caramel, butterscotch and citrus, with a long and spicy finish." In the Caribbean the cane is usually cut once a year, while in South American sub-tropical climates it is possible to crop twice a year. Like most grass varieties, sugar cane thrives on being cut and simply starts growing again after cutting, this cycle only needs to be interrupted due to diminishing nutriments in the soil. After six years or so it was common to plant another crop to reinvigorate the soil but modern fertilisers are now often used to stretch a few more years of cane growth. J. Gow Rum takes its name from the infamous Orcadian pirate John Gow and the new rum, ‘Revenge’ is named after the ship that the pirate renamed after leading a mutiny on board, due to poor work conditions. In Jamaica it is common for the cutters to leave an odd cane or two standing at the edge of the field. These are tied in elaborate shapes to represent a watchman, which the cutters believe will ward off the 'duppies' or mischievous spirits.

From rum distilled on a remote island to liqueurs and spiced options, here we take a look at some of the best Scottish rums. Column stills are also known as 'continuous stills' because, as their name suggests, they can be run continuously without the need to stop and start between batches as in pot stills. This, coupled with the higher concentration of alcohol in the final distillate, makes column stills much more economical to operate than pot stills. They also allow the production of lighter, cleaner rums.Aberdeen-based Ardent Spirits, an independent bottling company, recently launched an exclusive ‘Sea Shanty rum’ with proceeds going to Aberdeen RNLI.