Brett and Brian Berish, owners of wine company, Sovereign Brands have worked with distillers of the West Indies Rum Distillery to create a small-batch rum which harks back to the original West Indian spiced rum recipes from the 16^th and 17^th centuries. “Bumbu” was the name given to rum with Caribbean fruits and spices added by sailors and merchants to liven up the flavor.

Bumbu is distilled and bottled at a 123 year old distillery in Barbados from first-class sugarcane selected from eight countries across the West Indies. Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guyana, and Honduras.

Brett Berish said: “Each of the eight countries has the ideal climate and mineral-rich soil critical to growing premier quality sugarcane, and each individual sugarcane harvest lends distinct characteristics to our Bumbu blend – from notes of coffee and cacao to aromas of coriander and ginger, and tropical fruits like mango and papaya.”

The sugarcane harvests are distilled, blended and bottled using Barbado’s pure, naturally coral-filtered water. Using a distillery-secret strain of Saccharomyces cereviae, also referred to as Brewer’s Ale Yeast in the fermentation process. The nature of this strain is a secret that dates back to 1840. The finished blend is aged up to 15 years in once-used, grade-A bourbon barrels. These barrels have a medium-dark char, which gives Bumbu its rich color and enhances the vanilla notes in its taste profile.

Bumbu Rum (70 proof)
Visual: Orange-brown.
Nose: Light, almost nutty spice cake, with a headily rich rum fragrant nose.
Taste: At first, somewhat tannic and with a shy sweetness. This quickly opens into a broad showcase of oak char, burnt vanilla, gingerbread, cocoa bean and a deeper note of chai. Yet, none of these characteristics overwhelm the rum itself, which is well aged and confident.
Finish: Long. Lots of dark rum and lingering spice character.
Overall: Our new favorite rum for 2018. A really beautiful blend and character, drawing the best from each of the islands.
GSN Rating: A+

For more information go to: Bumbu