Coming up in this video, I've got another one from the Salford Rum Company. This is their Dark Spiced Rum. So if you wanna know what this one tastes like and smells like and how you can enjoy it best as a highball, stay tuned.
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Background; https://youtu.be/lXTLiaYkZCQ?t=82
Without covering too much of the old ground, let me just tell you a little bit about the Salford Rum Company. It was set up in 2018 by two friends up in the Salford area of Manchester in the UK. 'Cause you can kind of see, I'll try and hold that up on the close-up there to the camera. This, the whole bottle, and it's exactly the same with their normal Spiced Rum as well, is kind of designed by a local artist called Dave, or David and it's kind of depicting the whole Salford Docks area and the whole brand, the whole, the marketing story is trying to pay homage to the sort of Salford Docks, the shipping areas.
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Now, the one thing to point out as well, this is a lot cheaper than that as well. That one was coming in at £40 a bottle, however they do distil it from scratch in the UK and then infuse it. Big difference with this. This comes in at roughly about £30 a bottle, link's in the show notes of where you can get this from, from Master of Malt, but the base Rums of this are actually Caribbean and in particular come from Barbados and even narrowing that down, they come from the Foursquare distillery. So those base Rums are then shipped back to the UK, maybe even into the Salford Docks, who knows, ships back into the UK and then the guys there at the Salford Rum distillery they kind of blend their Rums together and then infuse them with their spices and flavours to create this.
Now, as this is a Darker Spiced, and I will get, I will do this colour side by side colour as well, if you remember back to the last one, this was kind of a, sort of a golden colour, but a kind of a little hints of Orange kinda coming through there. So this one, in theory, should be a lot Darker. A lot of that will be to do with the base Rums and a lot of that will be to do with the spices and the colourings that are used in this. Now, the reason I said colourings is because the four kind of ingredients that I know that go into this, we've got hints of vanilla, we've got hints of coconut, we've got hints of clove and then we've got burnt caramel. So we know full well that that burnt caramel is gonna come through and that's gonna really kind of seep out into the Rum and it's gonna, hopefully, give us this really nice deep colour.
What does Salford Dark Spiced Rum smell like?
As you'd expect, very, very different to their original Rum. This one I definitely get the vanilla coming through there, I get a little bit of, little bit of fruit but actually a tiny, that coconut is sort of, I'm not gonna say this is, like if you're thinking Malibu or anything like that, not even remotely in that, but it's just the faintest hint of sort of coconut that comes through there. (sniffing) Smells really lovely, really kind of fruity, but again doesn't smell sweet.
What does Salford Dark Spiced Rum Taste like?
Well, before we get into the taste, look at that for a colour, can you see that? That is a very, not jet, sort of, black but very Dark and rich in colour, compared to their normal one which has got a bit got a bit of chill around it now, but kind of the Orangey kind of look comes through there, but that is a very deep, rich bold colour on that one. So, tasting. I know exactly how that's gonna work. It's a highball, no two questions around that. But we will, I will do the whole experiment with it.
However, what does it taste like? Again, as I said with that one, just when you thought everything was getting a bit same-y, something different comes along. So, we have got, it's not a sweet Rum, again, probably I'm gonna put this about a two out of five alongside that, I don't think this is an out-and-out sweet Rum. 40% ABV, again I'll just double check, I think it is, where is it? Yup, 40% ABV, so it is the same sort of strong, not 35%, not 37 and a half, so it's gonna have that sort of alcohol kick. The one thing I will say for this, it has got that alcohol aftertaste to it. But, the actual, and that's kind of the finish for me, the kind of alcohol does come through a little bit, however, on the tasting, what you get, is a really, really lovely blend of vanilla with the subtle hint of coconut but behind it, completely, don't even think Malibu, don't even think any of those sort of out-and-out coconut Rums, I'm not talking that. I'm talking sort of a vanilla-y spices Rums. Yes, you get the hint of cloves, the hint of vanilla in there, cinnamon maybe, but, the sort of, the caramel, that is sort of there, but, what you get is that sort of fun, fruitiness of coconut just sort of lying underneath. And that is really fun and really quirky, I really, really like that. Open and honestly, I don't think it's gonna be one of your favourite Spiced Rums to drink neat. It's just got too much of that alcohol bite on it for me to personally enjoy that neat over ice, but I know, I just know straight away, how this is gonna work in a highball and that's what we're gonna do next.
How can you drink Salford Dark Spiced Rum?
Right, I've been away, I've had a little play around with this. I wasn't wrong. I'm not gonna beat around to it, this is just crying out for Coke. It was just one of those simple things that was just gonna work all day long. Kinda, as I say, it's not a sweet Rum at all, but that vanilla and that little bit of coconut coming off the back there, that is just gonna please so many people. Really, really like that combination together.
The mixer that did really surprise me though, wasn't kind of expecting this to come out in second place, but that was actually my second placed mixer. And by all means, it should do as well, because I really loved that with Spiced Rums, and obviously you've got kinda coconut in there as well. The coconut obviously plays very, very nicely with Pineapple, so if you want a fun, fruity kind of drink, that just works very, very well. I think, I'm gonna bring this out now, the Fentimans Tropical Soda. I think just because that has got a slight bit edge on the sweetness scale for me and that is a kind of a dryer Spiced Rum, I think, for me, that's why that didn't work as well. Still a lovely drink. Probably six, six and a half out of ten. For me, this was a good, sort of eight out of ten, because I think for a highball to work, I think you just need that tiny, tiny little touch of extra sweetness to balance it out and I think that was superb.
And then we come onto our third place mixers and I genuinely couldn't split these. One minute I thought the normal sort of Ginger Ale, the plain Ginger Ale, was winning and I thought, "that's lovely", and then the next minute, and the next mouthful, I thought, do you know what, the Spiced Orange one works even better. And every time, I couldn't, I kept going backwards and forwards I genuinely can't split those. They create very different drinks as you can imagine. That one lets the sort of botanicals, botanicals, flavourings, whatever you wanna call it, that one lets them shine through, whereas that one kind of matches them perfectly. Sort of vanilla, unless you've got that tiny bit of coconut in there, coconut I know, it just creates that fun little twist and I genuinely can't place them. They're my three kind of recommended serves with this.
I did obviously go the sort of Ginger Beer route as well. It was, it was lovely, but again, openly and honestly, I think there are other Spiced Rums out there to mix with, go better with Ginger Beer. I don't necessarily think that's a Ginger Beer, that, for me, is a Coke kind of Spiced Rum and actually it is a really fun Spiced Rum.
Without, without you kinda going Malibu, without you kinda going Dead Man's Fingers coconut or anything like that, but if you do like coconut, but don't want an out-and-out coconut Rum, that just works. Absolutely lovely. Slightly cheaper than that. £30 a bottle. I highly recommend you adding that to your collection just because it's so different and specially as it's a Darker Spiced Rum as well. To get that kind of flavour profile coming through in a Dark Spiced Rum, really, really like that.