Rude Mechanicals Vigneron Rum NV
42% abv 
East Sussex, England
Vegetarian, Vegan
A (mostly) English Golden Rum, made using pure sugar cane molasses, double distilled in 200litre copper alembics, and finished in barrels honed in the Rhône.
 
Production
There are easier ways to make Rum, this certainly isn’t one of them. Molasses is the darkest, stickiest stuff from which to procure Rum, as well as being very mean-spirited in terms of yield. Dr John separates the heads and tails twice in a double distillation to extract the purest hearts of the stills. With no need for sweetness or spice, and no impurities to hide, our Rum emerges from 200 litre copper alembics and transferred into 600 litre demi-muids that have previously borne Rhône reds. Over the course of just 10 months, our Rum takes on the character of these barrels, whose oaky power has been assuaged by three years of red wine aging, leaving the colour, texture and traces of a fine Rhône red impregnated in our Rum. This is then judiciously cut to our chosen sweet-spot of 42% and bottled.
Tasting notes
A deep, amber-gold in appearance, with a heady nose of cocoa powder, allspice & toasted hazelnut. Gently nutty & textural on the palate with multiple layers of flavour including Seville orange marmalade, praline and red apple, Vigneron Rum finishes with length, tight grain and slight tannic grip from its time in demi-muids.
Food match
This is a sipping rum for sure, so a single cube of ice is all that’s needed to enjoy it to the full. Alternatively, as a base for rum cocktails Vigneron Rum’s naturally drier, textural style is best matched to Marmalade Mojitos or a Rum Old Fashioned.