Revolver Rum is a new rum brand from the Rathlee Distilling Co. based in Cornwall on the South Coast of England.

It is a product of two rum lovers – one from Colombia and one from Cornwall.  The world Revolver in this instance, is not linked to pistols or guns.  It actually means in Spanish to “stir” which may give you an idea as to what direction this rum is heading in.  They also mention evolving on the label which is probably another nod to using the word revolver.

Bottled at 40% ABV in a very distinctive stubby 70cl bottle, it ticks a lot of boxes for me presentation wise.  It has a striking appearance and the package is topped off with a very substantial wooden topped synthetic cork stopper.  A few UK online retailers have already picked this up – Drink Finder for instance.  It is retailing at just under the £30 mark.

The rum has only been out a few months but already it has a very impressive website.  I’ve seen how “home grown” rums such as the Duppy Share and Elements 8 can succeed as a result of a mixture of slick marketing and solid presentation.  However, it is worth noting that both these brands had something else behind them – very well chosen rums.

With little information on the label other than “Cask Aged Golden Rum” I had to do a bit of digging to find out the exact origin of this rum.  It is column distilled and aged in used ex-Bourbon barrels for 18 months.  It is forwarded at Cask Strength to the UK where it is diluted to 40% with Cornish Mineral Water.  Unusually it is not a blend of rums.  The rum is currently being aged in the UK for an additional 6 months as the people behind Revolver see how this matures come the summer.  The rum itself comes from a very respected producer, unfortunately the team behind Revolver are unable to reveal whom as part of their agreement with them.  I do know but I won’t tell.

Revolver rum have teamed up with The Cocktail Trading Company to create a few signature cocktails.

Anyway enough of all this jibber jabber lets move onto analysing the actual rum in the bottle.

The rum is a light gold/straw colour.  It displays no signs of added caramel and the nose shows no signs of added sugar.  This is another rum which is without additives.

The nose is unsurprisingly a little fiery with strong notes of sweet young alcohol.  It has some familiar notes for me.  It has a nice buttery quality to it.  Despite the youth of the rum it does seem to have quite a smooth profile.  It has some decent oak notes in the mix, some spices and a good rummy feel to it.  It’s a lighter bodied Spanish style “ron” and I certainly feel that it could easily pass as a couple of years older than its actual age.

Sipping this rum is mpsa quite spicy experience.  It’s not so much young alcohol that overwhelms the first few sips but more the spicier notes in the nose – its quite peppery and the oakiness is a little bitter.  It has a short yet fiery finish.  A top rate sipper it isn’t – its too young.  However, it fairs a lot better after a couple of glasses (when perhaps some of the senses are a little numbed) than many other older rums.  As you persist with it you get a little more of the fruitier notes and some honey, the oak is very evident on the finish.  I do like the oakiness of this spirit as I feel good rum should have evidence of cask ageing – there should be oak in any aged spirit.

Although I have commented on the sippability of this spirit (because I was pleasantly surprised and quite enjoyed the experience) it’s really as a mixer that Revolver is being marketed.  Which I find quite refreshing as many other “rums” think that chucking a load of additives at young rums and adding droplets of older rum constitute calling the rum XO or Solera 81 or other such nonsense.

When it comes to mixing I’ve yet to experiment that much with cocktails at home (the site does have a Rum Ginger Beer and Red Wine Cocktail which even I can create and works very nicely), so its been put to the usual Rum and Cola test mostly.

There are a couple of things that appeal to me in a rum and cola – I like a spirit which can slightly dull the fizz in cola and smooth out the drink and I very much enjoy tasting the presence of an actual rum.  For me that is some oaky notes and some slightly sweeter fruitier notes.  Which is exactly what this rum delivers.

For regular readers this reminds me of one of my perennial favourites – Chairman’s Reserve.  I like the nice oaky profile and the little hints of vanilla and honey.  Slightly dry and all round for such a young rum which isn’t even a blend – very nicely balanced.

All in all this is a good solid tasty mixer.  It’s certainly much better than you would expect for a rum less than two years old!