Introduction
Located opposite to the iconic Port Ellen Malting facility in a renovated building which was earlier the Hastie’s Lemonade factory is now Islay’s 1st rum distillery named after the island – The Islay Rum.
The idea of setting up the 1st rum distillery on the island that is otherwise known for its peated whiskies is of Ben Inglis who moved to Islay when he was ~5 years old. Over the years he was fascinated by whisky festivals hosted on the island but was obsessed by rum that like all good things in life was introduced to him by his wife.
Ben’s idea progressed when the independent bottler The Vintage Malt Whisky Company entered into a joint venture with The High Road Rum Company and the permission for construction was granted in the year 2020. It took them ~2 years to launch their 1st batch of unaged rum in January 2022.
Inspired from Caribbean Rum distilleries Ben’s rum adventure involved implementing similar processes like long fermentation/ open air fermentation involving dunder, muck pit contents and distilling in the copper pot still with 2 retorts.
Fact: Dunder is the left-over liquid of the 1st distillation and is either discarded or added into muck pit along with lees (dead yeast), trash of sugar cane, molasses which develops intense characteristics over the time with the involvement of ambient yeast. The liquid from the muck pit is added to a batch of fermenting liquid aimed for long fermentation, unique characteristics development.
Process
Molasses for Islay Rum are sourced from multiple countries including India and the team is researching the influence of ambient yeast during long fermentations. They were delighted to present a batch of fermenting liquid showcasing hints of earthy aromas which they intend for further research on culturing a specific type of yeast for their rum’s signature characteristics.
PFB images of fermenting liquid in tanks at The Islay Rum distillery
Distillation
The copper pot stills with retorts are made by the Speyside Copper Works wherein the main pot capacity is of 2000ltrs, Low Wine Retort (LWR) is 300ltrs and the High Wine Retort (HWR) is 200ltrs. The still is heated by using steam and it takes ~7hrs for a single distillation run.
Fact: Unlike regular pair of copper pot stills which are used in whisky industry to distil the fermented liquid in the wash still first, separate head, heart/low wines, tails and the heart/ low wine being redistilled in a spirit still to acquire the spirit with higher ABV and selected congeners, traditional Caribbean rum pot stills have LWR attached to lyne arm of main pot & HWR attached to the lyne arm of LWR for the separation/ cuts and HWR lyne arm leading into a condenser to collect the New Make Spirit(NMS). Please refer the image of The Islay Rum still set up.
The NMS during a short sampling showcased more of vegetative characteristics along with ginger stem and agave syrup notes. At this stage only the white rum has been launched and going forward majority of their rums would be aged variants, rums finished in Oloroso, Sauternes, Islay casks to name a few.
The NMS to make the aged variants is distilled to a different specification which is bit bolder, heavier and is working well considering the time and type of cask it is being paired with. Few samples showcased real depth of flavours and beautiful colour. Considering the size of the distillery, only few casks are rested at the distillery site and majority of them being rested in the mainland warehouses
TASTING NOTES
Islay Rum Geal (Unaged Rum)
Nose – Geal is a light and lively rum with notes of butterscotch/toffee, green apple, light citrus and some fresh vegetal aromas.
Taste – On the palate you get light tropical fruit, green banana, a fresh herbal or mineral flavour, green apple and some malt biscuit at the tail end.
Serving recommendations:
Expresses well in classic rum-based cocktails. Daiquiris & Mojitos are always a winner.
Bottle Image, credit Islay Rum Distillery
Written by Madhu Rajigani, Tulleeho
