Jamaica Cove Black Ginger Rum. I’ve noticed a few Ginger flavoured rums appear on the market over the past couple of years. We’ve always tried on this site to help with people’s curiosity when usual or different rums appear. Especially when they are priced at the mid and lower end of the market.

I’ve no doubt a number of you may have seen this rum online and thought what a Black Ginger rum might well taste like. I know I was certainly curious to find out.

Jamaica Cove Black Ginger Rum was released in 2017. It is a blend of Pot and Column distilled rums from Hampden Estate, Clarendon and Worthy Park. The rums are aged between 2 and 3 years. The rum is then infused with Ginger and other botanicals to create Jamaica Cove Black Ginger Rum. It has already been picked up in quite a lot of retailers and you should find a bottle of this priced at around £26. Refreshingly for a flavoured rum it is bottled at 40% ABV and comes in a 70cl bottle. You often get short-changed with both ABV and bottle size with more “exotic” flavoured rums.

Jamaica Cove refers to the coves used by smugglers to hide their precious booty of Jamaican rum back in the mists of time around the Southern Coast of England. Places like Falmouth on the Cornish coast.

Presentation wise you get a nice stubby bottle and a very nice synthetic plastic topped stopper which alongside the presentation gives the rum a more premium feel. Also available in the Jamaica Cove range is a Black Pineapple rum which I am very interested to try following all the fuss about Plantation’s Stiggins’ Fancy a couple of years back. Might we have a competitor?

We’ll find out another day. Today we will see exactly what a Black Ginger Rum tastes like…….

In the glass Jamaica Cove Black Ginger Rum is a dark to orange/golden brown. It’s quite vivid with orange and red flashes throughout.

On the nose you are met immediately by a sweet very fruity aroma. Hints of pineapple, mango and fruity boiled sweets.

Despite the initial sweetness further nosing reveals more of the actual rum in the blend. Which is a good thing. You aren’t getting huge amouts of heavy Pot Still Jamaican rum but you are getting enough of the rummyness to still be convinced that this is a flavoured rum. Some of the sweeter notes are definitely the Jamaican rum base.

The nose is all wrapped up with the ginger though. Sweet stem ginger biscuits – it gives a really nice spicy note.

Taking a sip on the rum reveals even more of the ginger. The sweeter notes retreat a little revealing more of the Jamaican rum which nestles nicely alongside the Ginger. I’m now getting McVities Ginger Cake and Ginger Parkin (a cross between a cake and a biscuit). The rum is slightly harsh when sipped – quite a lot of alcohol coming though.

That said I don’t mind that at all because it at least shows this hasn’t been sweetened to silly levels. The hydrometer actually shows only a trace of additives. The rum is botted at 40% ABV and the hydrometer returned 39.5% which would suggest around 4-5 grams per litre of additives.

But really I wasn’t expecting this to be a stellar sipping experience. I was expecting to end up mixing this rum. Which is where you will have few complaints. It makes a really good Dark and Stormy when mixed with Ginger Beer – Ginger Ale works well also. Surprisingly the drink doesn’t become overpoweringly ginger.

Mixed with cola I have really enjoyed the Jamaica Cove Black Ginger Rum. The rum isn’t overly sweet and the ginger flavour works well alongside the Jamaican rum. It’s a really nice combination.

As a flavoured rum this works really well and gives a really nice twist in mixed drinks. The ginger flavour is pretty authentic and as mentioned it’s not overly sweetened or over the top.