60 Secs …

The key difference between single malt whisky and rum is the starting point of the source of the alcohol. For single malt, we use a grain-based source (English barley) to deliver the fermentable sugars. For rum we use a sugar-based source with its DNA linking back to the sugar cane fields of warmer climates.

Sugar cane itself is not a crop you’ll find in the UK or indeed neighbouring European countries – its mainly grown in South America. We use two forms, Panela (evaporated sugar cane juice) and molasses (a co-product of sugar refining), to create our cask aged rum.

The key process in creating alcohol is fermentation, for which we need to add water and yeast to the fermentable sugars.  For our whisky and rum we use the same local water but different types of yeast. For whisky we use fresh brewers yeast that we collect each week from Thornbridge brewery just up the road in The Peak District, and for rum we use a yeast strain developed specifically for making rum.

The length of fermentation along with type of yeast has a large impact on flavour, and we do long fermentations to create some of our core flavour differences; for whisky 6 days (the norm is approx. 3 days) and for rum we do 30+ day fermentations – which helps to develop some amazing flavours.  Having created the alcohol through fermentation, the distillation processes are similar but with a few important differences.

Finally we mature both spirits in select oak casks to produce the final product, and we chose these casks to complement the whisky and rum we make.