The Infamous Rum No. 01 is a Spiced Rum which hails from Belgium.  This Spiced Rum has been created by Infamous Designs and Concepts who bill themselves as Private Label Creators.  As to be excepted from such an operation they have a website.

The brand unsurprisingly offers a very slick, modern appearance. Having said that they haven’t went down the story-telling route of other Spiced Rum brands.  They are actually giving more information on the actual rum than 99% of Spiced Rum Brands.  The Infamous Rum No. 01 is currently only available in limited quantities, mostly in Belgium and the Netherlands.  They are looking to upscale production to keep up with demand.

You can currently pick up a bottle at the following webstore a 50cl bottle of this spiced rum will currently set you back 49 euros.  So it is not a cheap Spiced rum.  So what justifies its price tag?

Well it advertises that the blend from Barbados and Trinidad is aged for up to 8 years which is virtually unheard of in the spiced rum market. It is also enhanced with premium spices, a hint of vanilla and cinnamon, a touch of orange, a blend of coffee and cacao, and other secret ingredients.  It is also very unusually for a spiced rum bottled at 41% ABV.

Presentation wise the bottle is very flashy and modern – pretty much as you would expect.  It’s slightly gothic/pirate-ey and fits in the concept.  They continue the pirate theme with the use of the word Parley on the back – though lads its actually Parlay in English (or is that French?).  You also get a nice cork stopper to seal the rum which comes in a stubby size bottle.

So lets move onto tasting lets see how Infamous this one is.

In the glass the rum is a classic golden brown colour.  Possibly coloured a little to give people the presentation they expect.  Upon nosing I am relieved not to be confronted with yet another generic Vanilla flavoured spiced rum.  It is refreshingly different.  Notes of orange zest and coffee are different and welcome.  The nose isnt overly sweet – no cloying notes of the dreaded vanilla.  The sweetness is more along the lines of brown unrefined sugar, true there is a touch of vanilla but it is more akin to the notes found in good Bajan rums rather than the artificial sweetener used, as mentioned already in so many spiced rums.  There is some Cinnamon in the mix but it is not overpowering or too “fiery”.  It compliments rather than masks the other flavours.

Also good to note is that the actual rum makes an appearance during the nosing.  Nice almost Bourbon type spiced linger along with a nice background run of woody oak. There is quite a lot going on with this rum.

The companies website suggested trying this rum with Ginger Beer but they are also confident/cocky enough to suggest trying this neat.

Which actually really works.  You get a really nice dessert kind of rum with some really well defined and very tasty notes of orange, lime zest, coffee and both dark and milk chocolate.  It reminds me of Elements Eight’s Cacao Infused rum (which they have sadly discontinued for now).  This is a very grown up, very authentic tasting Spiced Rum.  Nothing feels artificial and there is no bitter aftertaste from the use of artificial sweeteners.

Infamous No1 is quite expensive at 50 Euros a bottle.  However, you are getting a “proper” Spiced rum both in terms of taste and ABV.  No “Premium Spirit Drink” here – in either sense.  Coming in at 41% ABV and with rum aged up to 8 years you are getting a genuine rum – with Spices.

Mixed the rum goes nicely with Ginger Beer and Cola.  However, rather surprisingly I find myself enjoying this rum the most neat.  Some of the subtler notes get lost when mixed.

I was very pleasantly pleased by this and can understand why it was recommended to me.  In short an authentic grown up Spiced rum – a Spiced Rum perhaps for people who don’t usually drink Spiced Rum.

A million miles away from Old J (or old school “British” Sailor Jerry).