Out of the Jungle and into our bars. We have a remarkable new Rum
I recently had the pleasure of meeting Hatton Smith at Black Parrot as he brought in some Rum that he had blended- Campesino Silver Rum. I really was very impressed.
Hatton, who’s from Alabama was living off-grid in the Jungle in Panama, roasting coffee and learning to distill. Rather than Distill his own liquid here, however, he has for his first release of his ‘Campesino Silver Rum’ worked with two well-known distilleries and blended together Rum from Trinidad Distillers Ltd, AKA Angostura and Rum from Nicaraguan Compañia Licorera Distillery most notable for producing Flor De Cana Rum.
This is a blend of Rums aged in their country of origin for a minimum of 2 years and up to 5 years. The Rums are then blended and filtered to remove any colouration from the barrels, hence it appears colourless in the bottle. It is bottled at 40% ABV
This is no ordinary “White” Rum. It is also hard to define as either a “Spanish” style or “British” Style Rum, it really is unlike anything I have ever tried. Rather than trying to liken it to other styles of Rum I will simply tell you my experience of tasting it:
On the nose, I was shocked to be smelling such pungent notes of coffee, and cold brew coffee at that, in fact, Single Origin Ethiopian Naturally processed cold-brewed coffee… You can’t avoid it, it combines with notes of Violet and Raspberry to create a unique and pleasurable bouquet. On the Palate it is softer than I expected for a young Rum and adds notes of blackstrap Molasses and Liquorice. I look forward to playing around with this Rum in cocktails as it brings so much flavour to the table.
Hatton also has an Aged expression where he blends Rum from Panama, Dominican Republic and the Foursquare Distillery in Barbados.
