Bimber Distillery London Rum. The Bimber journey is one that has it’s beginnings in Malt Whisky. The Craft  Micro Distillery at 56 Sunbeam Road, London NW10 6JQ began by producing a Malt Whisky.

Bimber now produce other spirits, such as this rum under the Bimber brand. Whilst Bimber is very much a London brand it’s name is very Polish. Bimber means Moonshine in Polish.

Bimber were founded by Darius Plazewski and Ewelina Chruszczyk. Inspired by Darius’ grandfathers moonshine – which in made in the then communist Poland they set up the Bimber Micro Distillery in 2015.

Despite moving into other spirits the Bimber website focuses solely on the whisky, pretty much. So I had to look elsewhere for further information on Bimber’s Rum.

There has been a bit of an explosion in home grown rum over the past few years. The UK has a long and rich history of blending and bottling Caribbean rum, but less of a history of actually distilling it’s own juice. The climate, it is fair to say has been one of the reasons for this. As well as importing and using molasses. Which is an extremely difficult substance to work with.

Bimber Rum is noted as having “London DNA” the molasses I understand is “local”. I am not really too sure about that to be honest. Bimber Distillery London Rum is noted as a Single Blended Rum. A mixture of Pot and Column Distilled rum fermented using a unique yeast strain designed by Darius. Bimber have tried to give consumers a very flavourful rum but one which is priced to compete with established white rum brands.

Bimber Distillery London Rum is produced in batches of 1,000 bottles. Bottled at 40% ABV I was expecting this to retail for at least £30, here in the UK. As you can see from this link it’s currently retailing at a little over £20.

Presentation wise, we get a standard bar style bottle with a synthetic cork stopper. Presentation is clean and information is given about the actual rum. Rather than any fairy stories. Well played Bimber.

I picked my bottle up around Christmas 2018. It is noted as being Batch No. 001. In the glass we are presented with a clear white spirit. A very standard “white” rum.

The nose however definitely not. Strong scents of caramel, toffee, brown sugar and some chocolate raisins. Molasses heavy? It certainly is and I really like it. It reminds me quite a lot of the rather tasty Sugar House White Rum from Scotland.

As I understand this is an unaged white rum and it certainly noses like that with lots of fresh of the still type aromas.

Further nosing reveals a white pepper note and some light ginger. Notes of vanilla and cream custard also add a nice balance to the nose on this rum.

I’m not really expecting to be able to use this rum as a sipper. Again though its surprisingly tasty. It’s not a wonderful sipping spirit by any means but a glass of this works nicely as a bit of a digestive or a “quick hit” of boozy molasses.  Should you fancy something like that. Being unaged I expected it to be a lot “rougher” than it is but it really is surprisingly smooth and light on the palate. Ginger and custard are again present alongside stoned fruits such as peach and apricots.

Finish wise it is perhaps a little “watery”. It is when the 40% ABV of the spirit is most noticeable. The finish isn’t really all that exciting and it does fade quite quickly into a very watered down finish.

As a mixer is what this rum is intended as. It makes a really nice “toffee” heavy Daiquiri – it has more than enough flavour to stand up to most mixers.

In my preferred drink of a rum and cola it works really well. Mixed it is a smooth and very creamy spirit. Equal amounts of sweet vanilla custard, milk chocolate and treacle toffee stand amongst the colour giving a very tasty and very enjoyable rum and cola.

It is a surprisingly easy rum to drink but it definitely adds a lot of flavour – unlike a lot of rums at this price point. This is much more flavourful than most of the cheap “Spanish” style white rums that dominate the market. We aren’t into the high funk of Rhum Agricole Blanc, Haitian Clairin or unaged Jamaican Overproof but we do have a very tasty white rum, with more backbone than most.

At the price it’s definitely worth giving it a punt. In fact it is a real bargain. A higher proof version of this could be very interesting.

I had heard good things about this rum from a number of people in the Rum game, who I respect. I tried it at London Rumfest and was pleased my wife took the hint and got me a bottle for Christmas. It was good to find a bit of a gem at a really good price.