How we Eliminated “Rum Face”

Wensleydale Spiced Rum

Our recently launched Wensleydale Spiced Rum is fast being recognised in an array of reviews as one of the smoothest spiced rums on the market. So, how did we do this, and what is it about our double-distilled dark rum that makes it so easy to drink?

Well, when we were creating our rum, we had one key objective, and that was to eliminate “rum face”, that grimace and recoil that seems to accompany the first sip of rum that has maybe not been given the love and attention necessary to make a premium drink.

The first thing we discovered, most people put mixers in rum to mask the taste of the rum. From a distillers point of view, this provides an opportunity. Make rum that can be enjoyed neat, on the rocks, or as the base for cocktails and mixers, that tastes good enough — and is smooth enough — to stand on its own two feet.

How did we eliminate “Rum Face”?

So how did we go about this? Well, rum face is caused by two things.

First, a poor quality base alcohol. Most non-premium rums are made using alcohol from fermented sugar cane. Sugar can is quite simple to ferment and process, but it can also be quite rough and harsh when swallowed. We use alcohol from fermented molasses, trickier, messier, but providing a mellow and quality base for our dark rum.

Second, poor spicing. In some spiced rums, the spice hits you all at once. It is a sensation rather than a taste. We use all our years of gin making to balance the spices, so in our Wensleydale Spiced Rum, the spice taste is subtle and arrives in waves. You don’t get a punch in the mouth!!

Our rum has a Yorkshire provenance. In our part of North Yorkshire, we are surrounded by centuries-old family confectionary businesses, and so we have introduced subtle notes of cocoa, vanilla, and tangerine zest to our rum as nod to this history. These botanicals work as well to provide a smoothness to the finished drink.

So that’s it. That is how Wensleydale Spiced Rum is “probably the smoothest spiced rum, in the World!!”