A new release to the UK market: St. Nicholas Abbey 10 year old Barbados Rum
We first came across this during Rumfest 08. By the time we reached St. Nicholas Abbey stand, I have to admit to being possibly a little worse for wear (so many rum's to try - I just couldn't help myself!). I came away with the business cards for Larry and Simon Warren who had the unenviable pleasure of running their stand talking to mainly drunk people and more importantly the feeling that it was a really nice rum.
A few months later via Facebook, we found ourselves invited to a Rum Club event where Jenny Gardener of Vanquish Wine Limited was to present St. Nicholas Abbey, give us all the details and the opportunity to try some more!
Hindered only by the fact that the UK had the worst snowfall for 15 years (apparently) and therefore incurred a week's postponement, we found ourselves at Rum Club in fairly sparse company (the weather kept all but the most dedicated at home). A very interesting presentation followed and we learnt that Larry Warren was in fact a well known architect in Barbados and had taken on the rather impressive task of restoring a 350 year old Jacobean mansion in the high ground of St. Peter. The old plantation house, incidentally surrounded by 400 acres of sugar cane fields now plays host to the final stages of the creation of this fine 10 year old rum.
Currently, the rum is produced for the plantation by R. L. Seale, initially aged at 65% abv (alcohol by volume) in oak Bourbon casks for 8 years. Its then batched and re-barrelled in to the same casks at bottle strength and then aged for a further two years at the Abbey. Equally interesting was a comment by Rum Ambassador, Ian Burrell, that over the next few years the process of creating St. Nicholas Abbey rum is going to move entirely to the site. This means the product will undergo some taste changes in the future. Discussion veered off towards the pro and cons of the supply and demand of molasses etc. I hope that I might soon start to understand the wholesale trade of this commodity and how the source affects the final taste, but I'm under no illusion that I was in the company of vastly more experienced people on this topic.
A lot more history and information can be found out http://www.stnicholasabbey.com/ - very much worth a visit.
The market place for this rum is definitely at the high end. We aren't going to be seeing this in Sainsburys or your local Wetherspoons. It's on the shelf at The City Beverage Company, London for £95 a bottle. It's hoped it will be converting whiskey and Cognac drinkers. A point was made that putting the 10 year reference on the bottle probably didn't do the brand that much good. We learnt a rum fact from Rikki at Rum Club that night: rum matured in the Caribbean, ages two and half times faster than it would in Scotland. Potential customers might understand why a fine 25 year old whiskey costs the way it does, but why would a 10 year old rum be in the same price bracket without this piece of information? Perhaps better to not draw this point to their attention and remove the 10 year old reference? In the hands of a knowledgeable sales person I guess it doesn't matter and this isn't going to be sold at your local offy next to the alcopops after all.
The rum is packaged and presented well. The bottles are hand engraved and can be personalised if required. There is also a promise of a refill at a reduced rate which can be obtained if the bottle is presented in person at the Abbey. I remember Larry telling me this at Rumfest and inviting me to pop by for a tour next time I find myself in Barbados - this is something I'm keen to do (who wouldn't!). Just need to sort out the readies first...
Currently St. Nicholas Abbey can be found at a few spots in London - see Jenny for details.
Fingers crossed we will get another opportunity to sample it again soon.
Contacts:
Jenny Gardener -
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- http://www.vanquishwine.com/
The City Beverage Company - http://www.citybeverage.co.uk/
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