Small batch, huge flavours.
I stumbled upon Circumstantial Cane Rum whilst at the Psychopomp Microdistillery in Bristol. It is made by a small team of Liam, Danny, Mark, Steph and Matt. They are making a huge range of different Gins, Various different Whiskies, Absinthe and of course Rum…
Made at their sister Distillery, ‘Circumstance,’ they have called their Rum, ‘Cane,’ which I love. On the lower label, there are a series of numbers. In this case, 1:4:3:1:2 and these numbers tell the precise story of how the liquid in the bottle came to be.
1: Batch Number: This is the first batch they have bottled
4: Fermentation: 100% South American molasses fermented using distillers and mead yeasts. 12-day fermentation.
3: Distillation: Stainless steel pot still with copper head and 4 plate copper column with further purification through 12 plate copper column.
1: Maturation: Charred British oak spindle and first-fill American oak cask.
2: Length of Maturation: In this case 2 months before being redistilled.
I love this openness, it invites us in to scrutinise and learn from how they are making their liquid. They are essentially saying, ‘we have nothing to hide.’ If only the rest of the industry took this approach then we consumers could make more educated choices.
Circumstantial Cane Rum is great, each time I smell it I want to go back for more, I want to jump deeper into the liquid. How much would it cost to have a swimming pool filled with this rum? Perhaps a bath full of ‘Cane’ Rum is more sensible?
I’m reminded of some of my favourite Jamaican Rums, Potstill heavy molasses rums, so if you like Jamaican rum then give this a try. This is elegant and crisp with light tropical notes like banana and Passionfruit but there is something deeper and darker that reveals its molasses base: Liquorice, Burnt Caramel and cinder-toffee.
This is a really exciting Rum and one that we will do our very best to make sure we keep in Black Parrot. After all this is incredibly small batch and there isn’t much of it about yet?!
For more information on Rums made in the U.K. I reccommend you have a read of Bimber Rum, or Scratch Rum.
