Scottish Spiced Rum - Rum is perfect for cocktails

The blend of strong flavours in The 45 Scottish Spiced Rum makes it perfect for cocktails.

Why? Firstly, rum’s potential for diversity is greater than that of any other spirit in colour, aroma, and taste.

This has led to booming popularity amongst consumers of all ages. In particular, we have seen an interest among millennial consumers in the craft, artisanal approach of many small-batch distilleries and have seen them venturing into the space in great numbers.

Secondly, market demand for new cocktails and different drinking experiences has fuelled the gin boom and the rum expansion to date, with a high potential for further opportunities.

With rum being an integral part of one third of all cocktails sold, the taste is already there and the discerning cocktail drinker is opening up to new ways to taste rum.

This necessity, driven by a thirst for new cocktails, has led to innovation and there are now close to 200 brands of rum available, compared with just 50 in 2006.

In pubs, bars and restaurants, our willingness to experiment with new and exciting cocktails on a night out, which has helped gin to become so popular, is accelerating rum quickly up the charts.

It is earning Spiced Rum a growing proportion of a UK spirits market whose overall value increased nearly £1bn to £11.6bn in 2019.

Scottish Rum Distillery- origins story part 2.4

So this is a story all about how our lives got turned upside down...

But enough about lockdown.

Our lives had been turned upside down even before that - by Scottish Spiced Rum.

Who remembers the part of 2020 when we were still social drinkers, rather than social distancers?

Talking of drinkers, that’s how our company started out. Last year, eight friends with many things in common - including their appreciation of drinking - embarked on a mission; a mission to make Scottish Spiced Rum.

You can read more about that elsewhere but I’d like to share the story of how our dream suddenly got real, how we realised we’d outgrown our garden distillery (the rum shack), which was set up in a secret location on the outskirts of Glasgow in the shadow of the Campsie Fells.

We secured a suitable location for our new, bigger distillery in February, with grand views of the majestic M74 motorway that runs through the heart of Glasgow.

We are advocates of the ‘recycle reuse reduce’ philosophy and sourced our materials that way - from oak casks fetched from deepest Clackmannanshire to the steel tables where the rum-making magic now happens, found in the loft of famous Glasgow pubs such as the Horseshoe.

Luckily we have a man with a real job amongst us.

Stevie, armed with his welding mask and probably other bits & pieces, created some sensual video clips for us of sparks raining down everywhere. Think Magic Mike, only filmed in Rutherglen. And, happily, he also created some perfect distillery furniture in the process.

The distillery is now up and running - sadly, at the moment, in government-mandated single person shifts, and producing tons (not literally - yet) of the good stuff.

Most importantly the pirate flags have arrived - you can’t have rum without pirates - and adorn the wall to inspire us further. Once this lockdown finishes, we’re so getting the place properly designed! 

One day there will be tours but until then, if you want to be part of our Scottish Spiced Rum story, you know what to do.

(by Marcus)

We all owe a debt to gin (but we’ve paid it off!)

Our resident researcher and communications director, Michael has some thoughts on why we’re making rum. And they can be quite insightful!

Before the gin-inspired craft spirits boom, the drinks industry and the way spirits were consumed were very different to the way they are now. 

Whether savoured straight as an acquired taste (a single malt or fine cognac) or diluted with a rigidly associated mixer (gin and tonic, rum and coke), there was little thought given to trying something new. 

Some sample a different brand, maybe – but few drinkers of spirits would venture beyond their tried and tested way to enjoy their favourite drink.  

We sometimes, without realising, wore a badge that everyone knew was “your drink”. 

And there’s nothing at all wrong with that. Tried and tested sounds way better than tried and regretted, after all.

Some of us remember this limited choice and big-name brands only approach. Of course, we always had a broad choice in some things here in Scotland with our Whisky distilleries but even they went through a big-brand consolidation in the latter half of the 20th century. So many are now part of the multi-national drinks companies that swallowed up every type of booze they could get hold of, like that one friend that will literally drink anything at a party...   

As for brand loyalty, well, the big boys worked hard to ensure we stuck with them. From international marketing campaigns to localised promotions, we knew what we liked. It was a hard thing to change.

Same brand, same mix, same experience. Who can really blame them - it worked!

Regardless, our love of the spirit has continued to grow

The times they are a-changing and it’s good for you and good for us! The huge expansion of the craft spirit market has brought different options to what is a vastly increasing number of spirits consumers. Odds are, if you’re reading this you’re already a regular consumer of Spirit. And we all know which one is almost always top of the list! 

Gin has evolved. From the old-ladies' ruin to the modern drinker’s sophistication, it’s all there! In its many reinvented forms and flavours, it is as often drunk with just ice or as part of a cocktail, without the need for a tonic. And of course, we’ve all now entered into the “craft mixer” market - fancier and more botanical tonics, lemonades, colas. And we applaud them all - they have changed the game and it is for the better! 

Now, there is a new player on the scene which is making the market its own. We have picked up the baton from the Gin pioneers and are running a completely new race…too many sports metaphors? So, here's some facts for you:

Rum sales in the UK passed the £1billion mark in 2018 for the first time ever – an increase of 7.5% on the previous year. In 2019, the taste for Rum is set to change altogether - from a White Rum being top of the list to Spiced Rum leading the way into 2020. There's a clear pattern here and we have hardly scratched the surface.

Have you been to the bar recently and sighed? We have and we’re fairly committed to getting to a bar. We have seen it and we have felt it. As rum’s versatility becomes better known and gin fatigue (yes, we are calling it that) prompts more and more drinkers to try a new product, there is an opportunity for something different to come to the fore. (Cue fanfare.)

Step forward The 45 – a delicious spiced rum which tastes as great on the rocks as it does in adventurous cocktails and many more mixers than rum’s traditional partner, cola. We’ve tried it with everything you can imagine. It works and it’s definitely spicing things up.  

(By the way, if rum and coke is your thing, you should sample our spirit with a craft cola and we guarantee you’ll find your favourite drink has just got better.)

We are delighted to be offering you a traditionally-manufactured product with an authentic back story and identity – which we’ll tell you more of in later blogs. We’ve worked hard to keep things craft. This is hand-made by friends who have learned together.  

What’s really exciting is that the interest of you, our audience, and other potential rum consumers is already piqued. We’re on a journey together. 

This is a real rebellion and it is only just beginning. We’d like to invite you to join the journey from its outset. Forward The 45! 

The origin of the Jacobite Spirits

The 45: brotherhood at the heart of Jacobite Spirits

How it all began? 

The hardest part of telling this tale is working out how far back to go. The real beginning is so much further back but we will start where it makes sense, a voyage of discovery.

We, 8 friends love to travel.  Euan, Jamie, Marcus, Michael, Pat, Ronnie, Stevie and Tony.  Together, we have seen much of the world- not always as a group of 8 but regularly as a variable sum of our parts.  There’s not much of the world that hasn’t seen one of the Jacobite Spirits team.  In fact, we asked and other than the 2 frozen poles, we have most of the world covered. 

We have a diverse background- not one of us has a career or expertise in the same sector.  This has been helpful given that none of us had any experience of making rum.  But, yes folks, some of you are ahead already here, we do have a shared appreciation of all things alcohol.  For us, it is a regular source of “discovery” on our journeys around the world! 

From drinking buddies to distilling buddies

So, late in 2018, as our shared interest and participation in sport that brought us together as friends and directed us to booze/pubs and international travel was waning we hit upon an idea to bring us together in an enterprise.

Luckily, as the “Mum and Dad” of the group, Jamie and Tony had already been researching just such an opportunity.  By the start of 2019 the idea to produce Rum was underway.  

After much discussion and debate, Jacobite Spirits was born with Rum planned as the first product.  Why rum? This was simple- everyone else was doing Gin and we felt that so much of the “Craft Gin” market was a bit inauthentic.  Our Rum project wasn’t really anything other than trying something new and starting on a journey of discovery- and that’s what happened.

Why Jacobite Spirits? 

There’s a lot to this but at the heart is a spirit of rebellion that we feel we share.  The Jacobites were a diverse group of Scots and allies from around the world who gathered around a cause - they believed in working together to achieve something better. We share that Spirit of Rebellion - the knowledge that things can be done differently.  And so we set off on our journey of discovery with a brand we felt was Scottish but also international.  The 45 is our first Rum and commemorates the end of one rebellion and the start of another. 

The Rum Shack! 

By late spring we had researched the process and ordered our first still.  We had experimented with flavour profiles and of course, sampled a LOT of other rum, which was surprisingly insightful.  There’s a lot happening with Rum.  We knew what we liked and we also wanted to keep as much of this an authentic Scottish product.  

In June this year we were awarded our License and the real work began.  

We built a modest distillery- in a hidden location, of course, and the Jacobite Spirits Rum shack shook into action.  Our rum, The 45, is finished in a bourbon and whisky cask- bringing together that spirit of journey, and to an extent, the spirit of rebellion!  We are still building our operation but are excited to start the next phase of our journey together- and to bring you with us! 

How do you drink spiced Rum?

This is not a stupid a question as we first thought it. We have grown so familiar with some drinks- from the new craft beers that have hit the taps over the past few years to the gin explosion- honestly, who is not making Gin? I bet you’re already making Gin…we’re not making Gin.

We even know that the options for the mixer have grown by so much- everyone’s on a craft this or that, tonic added is just dull these days.

So, what do you do with a Scottish Spiced Rum? Well, that’s a bloody good question, finally. The answer, as you’d imagine, is not that simple. You can actually do quite a lot. So, in the interests of covering a few bases and as an homage to the late, Bubba (Forest Gump), we’ll do a list:

How to drink The 45 Spiced Rum

Straight up:

In a glass with a big ice cube, add a tiny splash of water and a twist of orange peel. Game ON! This is serious- you will taste everything we have in there.

With a mixer:

We recommend expanding your mind away from a Coke but if you want that, please try something with a bit more punch than that stuff that comes out of the gun at the bar. Get a cola that has something in there- yes, a craft cola but you could, at a push, use a flavoured coke…even cherry!

A great, classic mixer for rum is Ginger Beer and that is fantastic. It will really accentuate the ginger in ours though so be careful!

Think about a Limonata (that fancy lemonade). This is great and works well with some fruit in the glass.

As part of a cocktail:

Sooooooooo many choices here but there are some that might surprise you. An Old Fashioned is really great with our spiced rum. Same everything else, just swap out the Bourbon for spiced Rum and you’re onto a winner.

Another surprise is in a Bloody Mary- swap out the vodka and use the rum. The sweet and spice really livens it up.

A champagne cocktail can also handle this- add your sugar, bitters and a splash of rum, top up with sparkling wine of your choice (no, that does not include lambrini ladies…).

So, there’s some ideas, but the most important first step is: get a bottle of The 45 Spiced Rum and make your life much better!