bringing drinks to life

There’s been a lot of talk about spiced rums over the past few months, what with Sailor Jerry making the strange decision to change their recipe and rumours of various other premium rum brands working on new spiced variants. It’s not a category that I’ve ever given a lot of thought to but suddenly it’s getting a lot of attention.

 

 

I was lucky enough to be invited to the launch of Elements 8’s new barrel infused spiced rum and managed to talk them into letting me have a bottle to play with at home, so now seems like the perfect time to take a look at both this new release and the spiced rum category as a whole. We’re also lucky enough to be in a position to send one lucky reader a bottle of Elements 8 spiced rum so be sure to read on for your chance to win!

 

There are very few definitions of what constitutes a spiced rum, other than the fact that it gets a large amount of its flavour from the addition of spices and sweetening ingredients. They can be made using golden or white rums with the addition of caramel to give an impression of age, but good spiced rums are usually made using a well-aged golden rum as a base.

 

 

Traditionally many spiced rums have been heavily sweetened and somewhat one dimensional in their flavour profile, choosing to have one signature ingredient such as vanilla or lime, giving the majority of the flavour. To be honest I have always found the majority of spiced rums a bit sickly and over-powering and as such I have always preferred to drink a good golden rum and find other ways of introducing spice into drinks.

 

 

Now it seems like some of my favourite producers of rum are looking to change the way we approach and use spiced rum. Chairman’s Reserve, El Dorado and Elements 8 all have products that will be coming to market soon, and with the quality of the rums they already produce I am expecting well made and well balanced spiced rums from all three of them.

 

 

Elements 8 has been the first to perfect their spiced rum and bring it to the UK and the results certainly meet the high expectation I had from a brand that produces super premium white and golden rums in St Lucia. They have thought intelligently about how to create a high quality spiced rum that can be enjoyed neat or be used as a cocktail ingredient.

 

 

Their approach was to think of the process of making spiced rum in almost the same way that gin producers use botanicals. They have selected spices and fruits that work together to create a complex and full-bodied rum. Taking a barrel they add the spices and fruits that take the longest to infuse and pour in the rum, then they add the other ingredients one at a time as each one infuses at a different rate. This process allows each of the flavours to come through without being overpowered by the others.

 

 

Sweetness comes from honey, which compliments the rich golden rum base, and on the nose you can smell dried orange peel, lemon, cloves and anise. On sipping it you are rewarded with a complex burst of flavours that slowly draw out allowing you to taste the ingredients one at a time in a lovely structured way. The cinnamon and clove flavours come first supported by sweet vanilla and rich coconut, anise comes through clearly as well, with the subtle hint of orange and lemon ever present and the spiciness of nutmeg just at the end.

 

 

This is clearly a cut above your average spiced rum and has set the bar high for other producers looking to launch a spiced addition to their ranges. It is smooth and well balanced enough that it could be sipped after dinner with just a couple of ice cubes added to help open it up, but it also cries out to be used in cocktails.

 

 

I couldn’t resist having a play around with it in three distinctly different styles of drink. I started with something refreshing and tropical for a hot summers day, moved on to an aperatif style of drink to whet your apetite before dinner and finished up with a digestif just to round off your evening.

50 ml E8 barrel infused spiced rum

8 mint leaves

10 ml gomme

30 ml guava juice

20 ml lime juice

2 dashes angostura bitters

 

In a Collins glass add the mint leaves and gomme and gently bruise to release the mint aromas. Add all remaining ingredients along with plenty of crushed ice and churn before topping up with more crushed ice and garnishing with a mint sprig.

60 ml E8 barrel infused spiced rum

30 ml espresso

15 ml vanilla gomme

 

Shake all ingredients hard with plenty of cubed ice before straining into a chilled cocktail glass.

 

 

While this is simply an espresso cocktail using spiced rum we found that the spices really carry through to create a great partnership with the espresso. Using vanilla gomme adds a richness that makes this a great pick-me-up for early in the evening or after a long night!

 

Our last cocktail has no name, so for your chance to win a bottle of Elements 8 barrel infused spiced rum, send us your suggestions for a name to this link info@bittersandtwisted.com. We’ll pick our favourite and if it’s yours we’ll send you a bottle of this amazing rum. Sadly this competition is only open to UK residents…

 

40 ml E8 barrel infused spiced rum

20 ml Picon Bierre (orange aperatif bitter)

20 ml Lillet Blanc

1 dash orange bitters 

 

Fill a brandy balloon with cubed ice and add ingredients then give it a good stir to chill it down and dilute it. This simple aperatif is full bodied with a spiced orange flavour and just a hint of bitterness, perfect for to wett your apetite before dinner!

 

If you have a chance to try Elements 8 barrel infused spiced rum we’d love to know what you think of it so please feel free to leave your comments below!