Holiday Flavours at Home: Tropical Rums and Spicy Spirits

Kicking things off with a Caribbean spiced rum, we have a brand new release from the team at Neptune Rum. Rich in flavour and gloriously golden, the Neptune Caribbean Spiced Rum is a spicier version of their original blend that’s also been expertly infused with tropical fruit.

You’ll find an exotic palate of papaya, mango, melon and banana, and as there’s zero added sugar in this blend, any sweetness comes directly from the fruit botanicals. Finished off with a spicy hit of cinnamon and vanilla, this is a beautifully balanced and well-rounded rum that’ll have your mind drifting to palm trees and white sandy beaches.

Here we have another Caribbean treat in the form of a Jamaican white rum. Koko Kanu Rum is a coconut flavoured premium white rum that’s crystal clear in appearance, full in body and smooth in texture. Made at the oldest distillery on the island, in the Nassau Valley, Koko Kanu is triple distilled and barrel aged for a minimum of 12 months to create that sublime natural coconut essence at the core of this wonderful white rum.

This one is great with any mixer you fancy, whether that’s soda water, lemonade or fruit juice, and makes the most refreshing cocktails. So grab yourself a bottle of this if you want to make a banging piña colada, daiquiri or mojito at home!

We’re breaking away from the tropics to visit this offering from the Netherlands. It may be a European creation, but we’ve chosen Bobby’s Schiedam Jenever as it’s a truly unique gin that’s been blended with Indonesian spices. This Southeast Asian-inspired tipple is bursting with fragrant notes of lemongrass, cardamom and cubeb pepper, leaving notes of citrus and spice to linger on the tongue.

Of course, you get that juniper kick any gin lover would want in their G&T, but this unusual spirit also offers added complexity from being blended with malt wine, as well as all of those lovely warming herbs and spices from Indonesia.

Our next ‘holiday flavoured’ spirit takes us all the way over to New Zealand, to a premium craft vodka distilled in Central Otago. The Reid Single Malt Vodka is one of the purest vodkas around, made from only three ingredients – malted barley, pure Cardrona Valley alpine water and the distiller’s yeast. Amazingly, from this simple yet magnificent formula, a rainbow of different flavours somehow dance on the palate. You’ll find tropical fruit notes of banana coming through, along with soft hints of biscuit, caramel and pear drops.

The banana or banoffee flavour that dominates comes from a long, 72 hour fermentation process. It’s a lengthy method that produces a real work of art. So we say enjoy this masterpiece neat or over ice, although the palate still comes through with a dash of soda water.

Completing our fabulous five is the UK-produced Market Row Botanical Rum. Inspired by the West Indies, this aromatic golden rum is made from hand-picked botanicals bought on London’s Brixton Market by distiller Matt Servini. The base rum he redistils his locally sourced botanicals with is a blend of rum that’s come from five different pot stills – one from Barbados, one from the Dominican Republic and three from Jamaica. The end result is something genuinely different to any other rum on the market, offering a fusion of West Indian heritage and Brixton ingredients.

You’ll find layers of botanical character and exotic flavour on the palate, including caramelised banana and tropical hibiscus. When it comes to the perfect serve, keep it simple – on the rocks, in a nice tumbler, with the afternoon sun on your face. Who needs a holiday anyway when you’ve got all that at home, hey?