In this Blog, I've got a really special Spiced Rum for you. This is actually born and bred down in Devon, down in Exeter. This is Two Drifters Spiced Rum. So, if you wanna know about it, what it taste like, what it smells like, and what my opinions are of the best, sort of, highballs, the best mixes you could put with this, stay tuned.
Time Stamps;
Background; https://youtu.be/nWugWc2FNpQ?t=61
This is Two Drifters Distillery as I just mentioned born and bred in Devon, in Exeter to be precise. They are a distillery, they do distil this from scratch. And born 2019, April 2019, so they're not even a year old. They've got three products from what I can gather, and a white Rum, a dark Rum, and then this Spiced Rum. A little fact: They were actually a beer, a brewery, they did actually make beer before they started dabbling in Rum and they got so many great reviews about their Rum, that they just knocked beer on the head, quite rightly so. And alls they do now is 100% Rum.
Now big shout out to Gemma and to Russ. I have not chatted to you yet, Russ, but big shout out to Gemma, she sent this through to me and she's also sent me a bottle of her favourite mixer as well. This is Luscombe Ginger Beer, so I'm gonna have a little taste of that later, plus loads of other mixes to see what my favourite mixer is. Now a bit of a backstory as well, Russ is a former chemist. So he's the guy that sort of distils this. Now the exciting thing about this is, they are the world's first carbon negative footprint distillery. Which basically means, if I think I've got this right, they remove more CO2 from the whole process, than what they actually use. Scientist's you're gonna understand what I mean exactly by that. The rest of us, if you're like me, I haven't got a clue.
So basically how they make it, they ferment 100% molasses until that's ready to be distilled. Then they twice distil it to get their end product, which is about 70, 80% Rum. And then it's, obviously, like gin is and like most other spirits are, it's then diluted down with their filtered water local to the area. So that'll bring it down to the 40% ABV that this actually is. It's a proper 40%. And then they go about spicing this up. So they take their flavours, which is vanilla, burnt sugar which is a flavouring, not a sweetener, as well. There's no added sugar gone into this, as well, at all. So we've got vanilla, we've got burnt sugar, we've got star anise and we've got mixed spice. They kind of go in there, and it's all steeped for 24 hours before they take that, filter it, and then bottle it. You can't get this at the moment on Master of Malt or Amazon. I can't find it anywhere on there. So, if you want a bottle of this, go and check it out from their website, their distillery. It's twodriftersrum.com. So go and check it out. It's about 40 pounds a bottle. This is batch number 20 as well. Just gonna spin that 'round. I love the little touches as well. Hopefully, you'll be able to pick this up. Little tag on there, absolutely love it. It's so simple, but looks really cool.
What does Two Drifters Spiced Rum Smell Like?
Right, and time to crack it. Let's see what it actually smells like. That is really different on the nose. (sniffs) What I'm getting, I'm getting a lot of mixed spice come up there. But the funny thing with that, you get a star anise that just comes up in the back there. I'm not getting too much vanilla on the nose. (sniffs) It doesn't smell sweet to me either, it's just, it's kinda that mixed spice without being like, what other Rums I've featured recently? The BrewDog and the Dark Matter, nothing remotely like them, but you do get that big hint of mixed spice coming up.
What does Two Drifters Spiced Rum Taste Like?
Right, so what does it taste like? Well, this I would give it a two out of five on the sweetness scale. It was quite, in fact, it might actually be close to one. Let's give it a one and a half out of five on the sweetness scale. That was really, really dry. The first notes in this is, Rum first and foremost, this is not a sweetened up, sickly sweet Rum, by any of the stretch of the imagination. It is just a proper out-and-out Rum. You can really taste that on there straight away. And because of that, I can really tell that this is gonna appeal to Rum lovers, out-and-out Rum lovers, as opposed to properly the more kind of guys at the proper sweet Spiced Rum end of the spectrum. And it has got that alcohol kind of bite to it because there is no sweetness in there. So for a lot of people, this is gonna be really hard to drink neat. Flavours though, this is quite interesting. There isn't a heavily Spiced Rum at all. Actually what I get off there is a little hint of chocolate. The mixed spice kind of gently comes through on the finish, but it's not upfront right in your face at all. Star anise, I'm really struggling to pick out. I get it on the nose, but I'm really struggling to sort of pick that out there. So that is, again, another very, very different Spiced Rum. And I wanna put this in the category that a Rum that has been Spiced, as opposed to a Spiced Rum. Purely because the Spiced Rums, they're kind of a little bit sweeter, and kind of going for the bigger demographic whereas this is definitely aiming at the Rum market, 100%. The one thing this is doing though, is I've got an ice cube in there. The more dilution is added, more flavours come out now.
Now, this has been sitting in there for a couple of minutes. Now that it's sort of diluted down even more and chilled, I'm getting a tiny bit of vanilla that comes out in the back there. But the one big, I don't know if I'm wrong in this, but the one big note I really do get off there, is kind of chocolate.
How to Drink Two Drifters Spiced Rum. What Mixers work well with it?
Right, Spiced Rum highball time. Right so, you can see I've had a good old play with this. I've tried it with quite a few different mixes. Kind of... There isn't nothing, really, it doesn't work well with. It's just an all rounder. This is their ginger beer. I have to say, I'm really sorry, Gemma, but I've got better ginger beers for you than that and better mixes. I just think that Luscombe just lacks a tiny, tiny bit of sweetness, just to bring the whole drink to life. So while it is lovely, it is probably not in my top five. That is just my opinion, I'm really sorry. That's just my opinion. So I'm just gonna put that to one side. And, actually, my favourite out-and-out mixer, I just thought was really, really lovely was actually Fentimans Tropical Soda. That was my out-and-out favourite. I just kind of think, it's not too sweet, which is kind of a contradiction to what I'm saying a minute ago. But it's just really subtle flavours that work really well together there. So I just thought those two were absolutely superb, and my top pick.
Then my second pick, I actually went for Ginger Ale. And this is Fever-Tree Ginger Ale. I thought that one, again, it's not over fiery in the ginger, and it has got a very slight touch of sweetness to it there. Just a really lovely, refreshing highball.
Then actually my third pick, and I kinda went Cola here. But actually what came out better for me was Coca-Cola's the Signature, the Spicy One. I did enjoy it. I really, really like it with Coke, but I just thought the whole spicy note of that, just gave the drink a whole new dimension. It was really, really nice. So that was my third pick.
And then, just to finish up, yes, I really did enjoy it with Ginger Beer. I've tried it with two, well three if you include that one. And I tried it with the Old Jamaica as well. Again, I always come back to Franklin & Sons Ginger Beer. It's a little bit sweeter without it being Old Jamaica sweet. Kind of sits perfectly in between those to actually. So that, actually, was kinda my favourite Ginger Beer serve, but I genuinely don't think... That was just, really, really like that. That hasn't worked for a few Rums that I've done recently, the Tropical Fentimans with its tropical soda, but it just works very well in there. So that was my first pick, second pick, and then third pick.
Go and check the Two Drifters Distillery out.
Gemma, big, big thank you for sending that through. Wish you all the success. We wanna see loads more of English, British Distilleries, Rum Distilleries coming through now. So hands of fair play to you. Love the whole negative carbon footprint thing. Keep up with that. Keep doing your stuff. Awesome, cheers.