Today we’re putting a new floral rum through its paces with a drink that’s a bit like a Dark & Stormy, but lighter. The rum is called Suncamino and the cocktail is called the Light & Sunny. See what they did there?
The rum boom is getting boomier. Last month, for the first time in Britain, rum sales outpaced those of whisky. Most of the action isn’t happening with rare bottlings from Hampden Estate or Caroni, it’s going on in the flavoured category. Spiced rums are big business and they’ve been joined by botanical rums to appeal to gin lovers. And now there’s floral rum.
What is a floral rum?
Suncamino, the name apparently meaning ‘journey to the sun’ in Spanglish, is billing itself as the world’s first floral rum. The flowers in question being hibiscus, honeybush, and orange blossom. It was invented by two young men from Cape Town: Stewy van der Berg and Inus Smuts.
The rum in question, however, doesn’t come from South Africa. It’s an eight year old rum from Barbados that has been aged in a mixture of ex-bourbon and French oak casks. The identity of the Caribbean distillery is a mystery though this blogger thought that it might well be our old friend Alexandre Gabriel at the West Indies Rum Distillery. Those French oak casks are a bit of a giveaway.
Wherever it came from, the dynamic duo then ship the rum over to Cape Town where they infuse it with all the botanicals before bottling it at 40% ABV. Importantly, they don’t add any colour or sweeteners. The result is a lot more subtle than most flavoured rums. The floral flavours are gentle and don’t overpower aged spirit so you’re getting notes of coconut, custard, and vanilla mingling with honey, orange, and a little bitterness from the hibiscus. It’s definitely a rum that’s going to appeal to both rum aficionados and people who just want something delicious to drink.
The brand suggests that it will work beautifully in an Old Fashioned. And you know what? It does! Especially when I used a dash of orange bitters which really brought out the orange blossom in the rum. It was also tasty in a rum and tonic, and made a light refreshing rum sour. And if all this sounds like too much like hard work, it’s great on the rocks with a squeeze of lime.
How to make a Light & Sunny
But I found Suncamino most successful in something called a Light & Sunny. This is not dissimilar to a Dark & Stormy, which has been trademarked by Gosling’s rum, but you use half ginger ale and half fizzy water. This is something I’ve long been doing when the only ginger beer is the fearsomely sweet Old Jamaica. Combine this gentle touch of ginger with a light floral rum and you have the perfect long drink for these balmy late summer and autumn days.
50ml Suncamino Floral Rum
Ginger ale
Soda water
Squeeze of fresh lime
Add the Suncamino to a tall glass full of ice, top up with half ginger ale and half soda water. Squeeze a lime quarter, drop in and stir gently.
