The distilling arm of BrewDog is staying very busy, and this is another tasty example of the fruits of its labour - Five Hundred Cuts Botanical Rum! The spirit is distilled from sugar cane molasses, fermented with red wine yeast and rum yeast for seven days, and then double pot distilled. Afterwards, botanicals join the party, with the likes of orange peel, lavender, schezuan peppercorns and cardamom being re-distilled in the spirit, while cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, tonka bean, ginger, and allspice, are steeped in the spirit for 14 hours. The two spirits are blended and finished off with a touch of muscovado sugar.
The Five Hundred Cuts name is inspired by Elizabeth Blackwell, who, in the 18th century, created the most comprehensive herbal (a text of plant illustrations and descriptions) of plant engravings (or 'cuts') at the time. 500 of them, in fact. Not only was it sizeable, it was also one of the first herbals to show the plants drawn accurately!
Coca-cola, dark chocolate, caramel combine with more aromatic notes like ginger, orange peel and cloves.
Highly aromatic, almost menthol, with assertive cardamom leading balanced by rich dark sugar.
Fresh and herbal, like upmarket cold cure.
Never really cared for spiced rums but if you like them you'll probably like this. It has an aroma that actually says "don't drink me", but give it a go. Initially it has a sweet, mellow taste but then you definitely pick up an interesting aftertaste, the schezuan peppercorns and cardamom are there undoubtedly plus the nutmeg. For someone who prefers a straight up dark rum I don't mind this, would I get it again? Probably not, but that's just me.
Tastes like a medicinal Christmas cake enthused with sweet toffee caramel.
