Sun Rum – Caribbean Spirit Blended in Hampshire
When I first heard of a new Hampshire rum, I was intrigued that a rum was being produced in the Hampshire town of Lymington. However, due to the lack of sugar cane available in southern England, not surprisingly it is not made from scratch. It is in fact the idea of Matt England to blend a variety of rums originating from the sun-soaked Caribbean islands of Barbados, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.
Matt is marketing his rum blend in a way to avoid the typical cliché that you have to be a pirate to drink and enjoy rum, wanting to make it more appealing to wine bar enthusiasts and the nightclubbing generation.
Sun Rum is a golden rum with sweet notes and an oak overtone, probably from the original barrels is was matured in. It is also very smooth to drink. Because of it’s smoothness it is possible to enjoy neat or with a couple of ice cubes. However, instead of coca cola or lemonade, I prefer to drink it with tonic water, so it doesn’t distract from the subtle flavour that has gone into the creation of this artisan blend.
There is no reason why you could not use Sun Rum in a cocktail, so I have created an autumnal, or should I say aut”rum”nal apple cocktail, to compliment Matt’s rum, using freshly squeezed juice from the glut of apples currently around and the addition of ginger beer.
Aut”rum”nal Apple Cocktail
Half fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add 50ml of Sun Rum and 100ml of apple juice. Shake and strain into a highball glass that has a couple of ice cubes. Top up with ginger beer and add a sprig of rosemary as a garnish. The smell of the rosemary really complements the drink. Enjoy!
Normally gin is my preferred spirit. However, I found this rum blend a very pleasant alternative and would quite happily find an excuse to enjoy it again.
I was sent a complimentary bottle of Sun Rum to review on my blog.
