Rum is one of the world’s most popular spirits, and often enjoyed by old dog sailors (and pirates!) It’s not local as it’s native to the Caribbean (created in the 17th century) but you can find artisan companies that mix up sustainable rums here, serve with a sustainable cola. White rum is not aged as long as dark rums (which can take years to mature) and most good brands are aged in oak barrels for depth of flavour. Most rum is vegan, just check brands are not filtered with bone char or isinglass (fish bladder) which are cheap methods of filtering out impurities.
Made from sugarcane that’s crushed to extract molasses, if you like gingerbread, you’ll like rum. The sugar is converted to alcohol to produce one of spirits highest in alcohol, so be sure to keep your measures down, as it’s easy to get smashed on rum! Soldiers were so fond of it, they were often paid in rum instead of money.
a carbon-negative rum from Devon
Two Drifters Rum is a brand based in green-energy building near Exeter (Devon) that is carbon-neutral and hoping to soon capture 1% of the entire UK market. Based on an idea while working in Vancouver, this brand was created by a husband and wife who tasted rum on their first date and again on honeymoon.
His experience in capturing carbon led to them deciding to help remove carbon from the atmosphere, in conjunction with producing a good rum in sustainable packaging (compostable seals and labels). All offset the carbon from shipping molasses and farming sugar cane to make the rum. Waste molasses is sent to a local farm. The range includes:
- Signature rum (matured in French oak casks)
- White rum (vanilla, apple, white pepper & lime zest)
- Lightly spiced (vanilla, chai tea, toffee apple & clove)
- Rich and fruity rum (pineapple, salted caramel, crème brulee)
a pirate’s rum from Isles of Scilly
It may look like the Caribbean, but the Isles of Scilly is notorious for its shipwrecks (a lighthouse once even blew over before it was finished, and had to be rebuilt). It’s also got a strong history of pirates, so it’s no surprise that SC Dogs Distillery is a popular tipple here (all bar is vegan – contains honey). The range includes:
- William Gibson Gold Rum is named after the son of a smuggler, who was also a farmer (and the land he worked still provides the ingredients).
- John Nance White Rum is named after a family ancestor who would row 100 nautical miles to France to bring back contraband rum!
RNLI Sea Dogs Rum is made in honour of heroic lives that were lost in these treacherous seas. Distilled in small batches from local ingredients and aged in old whisky barrels, the lingering notes of peat produces a taste to savour, over ice. Each bottle raises money for water-safety initiatives.
‘Grog’ is another word for rum, linked to its history with pirates (simply robbers who work on ships, rather than on land). Back in the day when sailors would drink rum on board, pirates would loot anything they found and this included rum, which they also traded as currency. They would find coopers who would fill empty rum barrels with boiling water and roll them around to create a new drink called ‘grog’. Shiver me timbers!
more good artisan homegrown rums
Scratch Rum (Hertfordshire) is made on the Benington Park Estate amid the rolling countryside. British refined molasses and water from a historic well is used to make golden rum (caramel, cinnamon, toffee apple) and faithful rum (molasses, vanilla and cinnamon).
Loveday Distilling offers a nice organic rum, made with smoked figs, orange peel and ginger. Distilled in Cornwall, this is produced in small batches using slow-fermented organic molasses, ageing in oak ex-bourbon casks. Sold in bottles sealed with home-compostable tamper-proof seals made from seaweed. Sent in flexi-hex cardboard packaging.
Shakespeare Distillery (Warwickshire) makes its own rums in an eco-friendly distillery (growing its own rosemary to make gin). The range (which offers refills) includes White rum (sweet summer fruits) and spiced rum, plus a rum aged for 30 months in bourbon casks. Tropical rum steeps cinnamon, allspice, ginger, mace, lime, orange and mango in pineapple for a few weeks.
Lazydog (Leicestershire) offers small-batch artisan rum, made in the heart of England. Choose from spiced, pumpkin or sloe rums (honey version is not vegan).
plant-based rum ice-cream recipes
Vegan rum & raisin ice cream (Addicted to Dates) is studed with rum-soaked raisins in a vanilla brown sugar cinnamon custard base. Pina Colada Ice Cream (Addicted to Dates) has a thick coconut base with tropical fruits.
Before cooking, read up on food safety for people & pets (many human foods are unsafe around animal friends).
