We are so thrilled that the renowned expert judges at the Craft Distilling Expo have named Sir Ranulph Fiennes' Great British Rum as their Botanical Rum of the Year!
The Craft Distilling Expo in collaboration with TheFloatingRumShack are delighted to announce the results of the inaugural Rum of the Year Awards. The competition was open to any rum or rum-based product produced (fermented, distilled, blended or flavoured) in the UK. The competition received over 50 entries from over 30 different producers.
Chair of Judges, Peter Holland:
“The last few years have seen a significant upturn in the interest in Rum, with far more mainstream coverage. It’s difficult to pinpoint why precisely this might be, but I think it would be foolish to discount the notion that the increase in UK Rum production and brands has nothing to do with it. With every passing year, the bar is raised in terms of the quality on offer, and there really are some class producers out there, genuinely worthy of wider attention.”
Judging Coordinator and co-founder of Craft Distilling Expo, David T Smith:
“There are many significant challenges to making rum in the UK, in particular those provided by the British climate: it limits the choice of raw material for distillers - there aren’t exactly many fields of sugar cane growing in Sussex! - but also impacts upon fermentation and maturation. Despite all of this, the overall quality of the rum tasted was really impressive.”
The judging panel consisted of spirits and distilling experts who were also experienced judges, but also a couple of informed consumers who are regular purchasers of premium (£30+) rum. This range of judges was chosen to provide insight into the thoughts of a wider audience.
Sir Ranulph Fiennes’ Great British Rum is the spirit that shouldn’t be. It’s an expedition into uncharted territory, challenging assumptions and permitting no shortcuts. This is a brand new way of making rum, never before seen on these shores or any other.
The process is remarkably simple: we skip the ageing bit. But before you get worried about a fire in your throat as well as your belly, remember who you’re dealing with here. Adventurers love a challenge, but they always come through with a top-notch experience. We get the spirit right the first time round so that it has a quality taste before it goes in the barrel.
Ours is a very, very small batch production - the stills are tiny, and there’s attention to the most minute of details. Triple distilled from 100% pure sugar cane molasses - not commercial sugar cane syrup - the Sir Ranulph Fiennes Great British Rum has an unbeatable rich flavour. It’s distilled three times to help concentrate the flavours of the molasses and strip out the undesirable harsh elements of the alcohol; that’s how we get such a smooth, refined, high quality spirit.
We still have that unique flavour that can only come from the spirit coming into contact with the barrel. Instead of it sitting in that barrel for five years, though, we put the barrel in the still. We’re using exotic woods from some of Sir Ranulph’s most iconic expeditions - Sequoia from Canada; Norwegian pine; date palm from Oman - to deliver multiple adventures in one bottle. Distilling with wood to extract the right flavours may sound simple, but make no mistake: plenty can go wrong in the extraction. Only the skill of a true master distiller can pull off the feat successfully. The result is a golden spirit with a distinctly British character.