Five Hundred Cuts Botanical Rum 70cl, 40% ABV - Made by BrewDog Distilling Co in Scotland - 11 Hand Selected Botanics

Product Information

BrewDog Distilling Co. Five Hundred Cuts Botanical Rum. Those of you outside of the UK might not be familiar with BrewDog. Those from the UK will probably not be all that surprised to seeing me reviewing this “Botanical Rum”. This has been in the pipeline for a bit of time. We long-realised we’ve got capacity constraints on the whisky and rum side,” Kersley said. “We’re a whisky distillery that’s got a serious gin problem, as we like to describe it.

In the glass BrewDog Distilling Co. Five Hundred Cuts Botanical Rum, is a dark brown liquid with an orange hue around the edges.Gates added: “Elizabeth wrote this book and she illustrated all these botanicals, it’s a beautiful book. She worked on it to pay off her husband’s debts and get him out of debtors’ prison, and she got him out of debtors’ prison but then he went over to Sweden and got involved in some kind of coup attempt and ended up having his head cut off – which is a little bit unfortunate.” We had the opportunity to attend the launch of the new Botanical/Spiced rum created byBrewDog,which was held at the Chelsea Physic Garden, where we had a chat with Steven Kersley, the young master blender behind this new spirit. The ferment is then distilledand once done, they then “infuse a combination of this white rum with Tonka beans, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and spices; the remainder is pot-distilled with an abundance of fresh orange peel,Schezuanpeppercorn,green cardamom and cloves, over four hours, with a little unrefined muscovado added for subtle sweetness.” Scottish producer Brewdog Distilling Co has unveiled a navy strength bottling as the latest addition to its Lonewolf Gin line. Gunpowder Gin sits at 57% ABV

The BrewDog Distilling Co team then infuse a combination of this white rum with Tonka beans, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and spices; the remainder is pot-distilled with an abundance of fresh orange peel, Schezuan peppercorn, green cardamom and cloves. The result is a full-flavoured blended botanical rum that is real in every sense. Free from artificial ingredients, full of spice and citrus zest; it is a product of meticulous craft. As a mixer it makes a pretty heavy Rum and Coke and one which can be a little difficult – theres too much going on. With lemonade or tonic it fairs a bit better. In some ways the lemonade adds a touch of sweetness. Ginger Beer/Ale is a no-no it just ends up far too spicy. Again like Dark Matter this perhaps shines best in a Bloody Mary. That is a very tasty mix.

Try a Five Hundred Cuts Rum Sample…

Kersley and his team pulled together various flavours they enjoyed to create a “melting pot of ideas” for the series. Pretty much all the “botanicals” noted in the rum can be tasted and the orange peel really tempers the sweetness of the clove and the tonka beans. Making it much more balanced. To be honest the sheer amount of spiced, flavoured and botanical rum currently being pumped out in the UK alone is frightening. Just look here at a recent screen shot of a new rum search on Master of Malt. Worrying just read some of the bullshit coming out of the some of those companies. The move included a redesign of its 500 Cuts botanical rum and Lonewolf Gin ranges, bringing both brands under a more “Brewdog-led identity”, according to Steven Kersley, the company’s head of distillation.

Where we have the most volume and demand is on our vodka, gin and rum, so what time is left over is where we put our efforts into making whisky. The purpose of the 10,000-litre pot still is to reset the balance a little, dedicate time and become even more innovative with our whisky programme; just open the floodgates in terms of whisky production.”This will be much more of a Brewdog-led identity, and the way that’ll look is we’ll use some symbiotics and brands that people recognise with Brewdog, and transfer that onto spirits but in an authentic way,” Kersley explained. So far, this is reminding me very much of Dark Matter Spiced Rum. Which like Five Hundred Cuts uses only fresh spices – no artificial essences etc. More than can be said for a lot of Spiced Rums on the market. The triple bubble still will sit alongside two 3,000-litre pot stills, one of which will become a full-time spirit still for whisky production. There will also be Brewdog’s 19m-tall rectification column. Part of the rum is then infused with Tonka Beans,Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Ginger and spices. The remainder is then Pot Distilled again with a mixture of fresh orange peel, Schezuan peppercorn, green cardamom and cloves.