Hand on heart, I don't get rum. I'm not a rum drinker thanks to an over exuberant indulgence at a B&S ball in my late teens. Drinking Bundy and Coke from a garbage bin till early in the morning in the middle of a paddock is pretty much a recipe for disaster, and I am sure I am still having the hangover. It's fair to say the smell of that rum still churns my stomach... until now.
Enter Jimmy Rum, an artisan distillery in Dromana in the Mornington Peninsula, better known for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir . If you are going to make and be an advocate for rum, of course, you are going to be a marine person. In this case the distiller is a former marine engineer, James McPherson. There is definitely something about sailors and rum.
Jimmy Rum's small batch oaked rum is a barrel aged beauty, spending a short time in American oak to infuse it with the sweet vanillin like compounds the booze draws from the wood. As a result, and because it is made with Jimmy's Silver spirit, it has notes of vanilla and caramel and butterscotch. The grassiness of the silver is lost with the dominance of the elegant woody notes. You definitely know you are drinking something aged in timber barrels.
This would be a great start for a Dark and Stormy cocktail, where the additions of good quality ginger beer and a generous squeeze of fresh lime. Or, as they suggest, try it neat or over ice. We are getting to the time of the year where cocktails on our balcony or in the back yard with ourselves (thanks covid) are on the menu and this is a must have on the bar.
It's a terrific change up to the rums you might know - all sugar and spice mostly and while I keep my hand on my heart and remain a non rum drinker, I could easily give this more than another go.
RRP $105
VIC | 2019 | Mornington | 46.5% ABV