Combining the flavours of the Caribbean with the knowledge of the Scottish Highlands, Exploration Rum is a dram for the adventurous.
Of all the spirits we associate with adventure, travel and exploration, it’s probably rum that has the longest legs, so to speak. The favourite tipple of pirates and buccaneers, rum is a spirit that’s travelled from the Caribbean to the furthest corners of the world, and celebrating rum’s wanderlust are two new Jamaican drams for your drinking pleasure.
Created by revered Master Blender Billy Walker for The GlenAllachie Distillers Company and its MacNair’s Exploration Rum brand, the new duo of small-batch rums comprises Exploration Rum Jamaica Peated and Exploration Rum Jamaica Unpeated.
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Renowned for crafting some of the world’s most flavourful and intense rums, Jamaica has been a rum production hotspot since the 17th century. Seeking out the world’s finest rum, Walker pinpointed Southern Jamaica’s Clarendon Distillery, situated on one of the oldest sugar cane plantations on the island.
Following in the footsteps of MacNair’s successful Exploration Rum Panama range, launched last year, the new Jamaican expressions were subjected to a similarly complex and innovative maturation journey, but this time under the watchful eye of Walker throughout the entire ageing process.
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To create the new bottlings, Walker brought the premium Jamaican rum to Scotland to be fully matured in the cool climate at The GlenAllachie Distillery in Speyside. He purposefully obtained spirit at high, medium and low ester levels in order to achieve a multitude of flavour attributes from the wood.
Following a primary maturation period of 30 months in rye, rioja and virgin oak casks at varying ester levels and at 86% ABV, the rum was expertly blended by Walker and reduced to 69% ABV in order to be aged at two different solution characteristics. In a similar vein to maturing at different ester levels, presenting the rum to the wood at two alcohol strengths allows a wider range of flavour components to be extracted.
For the Jamaica Unpeated variant, the rum subsequently underwent secondary ageing in a similar assortment of casks, whilst the Jamaica Peated expression completed its maturation journey in casks which previously held peated spirit distilled at The GlenAllachie to add a distinctive twist.
The resulting MacNair’s Exploration Rum is bottled at a high strength of 46% ABV, with no added colouring or chill-filtration.
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