Ninefold Distillery Nith Inshore Rescue Pure Single Rum. The unusual name of this rum is due to the fact it is a Charity bottling. The distillery – Ninefold should be familiar with readers of this blog as we have been keeping a close eye on their “Scottish Pure Single Rum” since they began production. Indeed we have both reviewed their products and interviewed owner/distiller Kit Carruthers.
This is their second “barrel aged release” following on from last years 1 year old rum. In all honesty I know very little about “Nith Inshore Rescue” and Kit has put together a very comprehensive run down on the charity and this bottling. So for once I am actually just going to pretty much cut and paste the “marketing” gumpfh as I honestly don’t think I can offer anything different. The tasting notes etc will be my own work as will the final score. Kit won’t be influencing that!
So here we go…..
Ninefold Distillery has collaborated with Nith Inshore Rescue to release a limited charity edition of just 100 bottles of their Scottish barrel aged rum to support the charity and help celebrate 40 years of lifeboat service.
Nith Inshore Rescue is an independent lifeboat service serving the Upper Solway and surrounding area rooted in the community of Glencaple, Dumfries, Scotland. Ninefold’s partnership with them was inspired by the long history between rum and the sea, including the history of navy sailors being given a daily tot of rum from 1655 until the ration was abolished in 1970.
Their mission is: “To protect and save lives, and when life is lost do everything we can to recover loved ones for those who are experiencing loss”.
Following the repeated tragic loss of life in the fast tides of the Upper Solway the community of Glencaple responded by founding their own independent lifeboat in 1982.
The lifeboat crew today are the custodians of a proud legacy of extensive knowledge, experience and history gained over four decades of service. Nith Inshore Rescue is committed to ensuring future generations are both protected and serve in the volunteer community rooted service that is their Lifeboat.
This charity release is a one-off Scottish Pot distilled cask aged rum, made from sugar cane molasses here at Ninefold Distillery.
Twelve experimental rums were distilled in Spring 2019 at the outset of the distillery, using 4-8 day fermentations and a variety of configurations of our 500 litre copper pot still. These rums were blended, casked at 60.9% and laid down at the distillery in September 2019, in a virgin American white oak barrel, barrel #04.
21 months later, in June 2021, the rum was re-racked into two ex-oloroso sherry octaves used to finish Speyside and Islay single malts, and finished for three months at the distillery.
The two octaves were blended back together in September 2021 at a ratio of 60:40 in favour of the Islay cask, to retain hints of smokiness in the final rum. Just 100 bottles are available, at cask strength of 59.2% ABV.
As part of the sales process some bottles will be auctioned.
Auction – Bottles 1-5
Bottle numbers 1 to 5 will be auctioned, and are the only bottles to each come with a presentation box made from local driftwood. Each box is made from a different wood: Sycamore, Yew, Ash, Douglas Fir and Holly. Bidding is via the following form, beginning immediately and ending 10pm Sunday 7th November.
The five highest bids submitted will be allocated the first five bottles in order of highest to lowest bids. You will be notified before the general sale starts so that you can still get a chance to buy a bottle if you didn’t obtain one in the auction.
General sale – Bottles 6-100
Pre-orders will begin via our online shop at 9am on Tuesday 9th November for 95 of the 100 bottles available. Each bottle will be £100, limited to one per person/household, with all profits being donated to the Nith Inshore Rescue. All bottles will be numbered.
NB – I will be updating the review with a link to purchase on Monday when the link is released by Kit.
Well this has been one of my easiest review to write so far. Now I’m just left with the fun part (hopefully) so lets crack on and see what this rum tastes like.
In the glass we are presented with a golden amber coloured liquid with a slight haze to it. Which suggest no chill filtering – which we like as it means all the flavour compounds remain. Hurrah!
The nose will be familiar to those that have tried any of Ninefold’s output. It’s has a very creamy toffee nose with lots of butterscotch and with this particular rum I’m getting a really fruity note of bananas and some indulgent Cornish style Vanilla Ice Cream.
It’s a really nice toffee/molasses heavy nose which I really like. Beneath the sweetness and creaminess you get a slight smokiness and a touch of peat. Bit of camp fire perhaps.
Sipped the rum shows much more of the whisky character which will be coming from finish as detailed above. Fortunately for me the Islay “peaty” side of things whilst very apparent is not completely taking over the spirit. I’ve got to be honest I’m not a huge fan of Scotch Whisky in general. Speyside is really about as far as my tastes tend to take me so I’m pleased that this component and the heavy molasses flavour of the rum is standing up to the smoky/peaty Islay influence.
I’m noticing a trend of “peated” rums appearing and rums being finished in Scotch Whisky casks. I’ll be honest I’m not a huge fan as essentially I feel you just end up with a Spirit that no longer really tastes likes rum. That I must stress in not the case with this offering.
On the sip you initially get a lot of honey, some molasses, toffee and a little hint of licorice. The entry is quite sweet but the mid palate cuts in quite quickly (not sure if it can even be called the mid palate as the change is very swift).
Ninefold Distillery Nith Inshore Rescue Pure Single Rum does quickly take on a lot of character from the casks it was finished in. So it becomes quite smoky and peaty. However as I take a few more sips I’m noticing my palate adjusting to this smokiness and I’m finding more of the “rummy” notes return as the mid palate develops into the finish.
This rum kind of goes sweet, gently smoky and then sweet again with a hint of smoke. It’s a really interesting rum to sip on. I dare say I would likely preferred this rum without the Whisky/Sherry finish but it is defnitely adding something unique to the mix.
I feel this is a very good sipper for this time of year. The smokiness of the rum really suits the cold Northern climate.
Finish wise the rum has a nice length to it and the peat and smokiness linger for quite a long time. The sweeter notes return a little more in the finish as well with the banana and toffee sticking around for a while between sips.
A really great rum and a really great cause. Great stuff
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