Honey & Rum
What’s all the ‘BUZZ’ about?
Honey is a natural and sweet fluid produced by bees from the nectar of flowers. A single honeybee produces one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime – for bees, a little goes a long way. Honey has a high content of natural sugars, minerals, vitamins and a small amount of amino acids and lipids. With natural sweetness, antibacterial properties and health benefits (e.g. high in antioxidants) honey is used in cuisine, confectionary, sleep aid, beauty products and medicine to name a few.
Honey has been used in beverages for years. The Vikings (775-1050 A.D) drank Mead; a sweet alcoholic beverage created by fermenting honey with water (sometimes with fruits, hops and spices) and played an integral part in Norse society.
How would you describe honey? Sweet? Gold? In reality honey offers so much more...
Honey flavours can be fruity, fragrant, floral, woody, malty, spicy, smoky, nutty, earthy, grassy and so on. Honey can be thin and silky or thick and sticky. Honey can be as clear as water, pale straw yellow or dark amber like molasses. Such diversity can be attributed to the ‘honey varietals’; a classification of honey made by bees using the nectar of a specific variety of flower, which can also vary according to geographical location and seasonal conditions.
Honey’s diversity and accessibility allows it to be combined with all sorts of flavours; citrus, cinder toffee, cinnamon, ginger … and of course rum!
Honey and rum is an un-BEE-lievable match made in heaven. The addition of honey complements and enhances the rum without overpowering the subtle complexities of the rum flavours. Honey can offer sweetness, texture (softness, silkiness, viscosity), brightness, warmth, decadency and other mellow characters of a hazy summertime. But as with all flavours – the honey and booze should be in balance.
So what honey rums do we have to offer? Some offer subtle honey accents and some can be classed all-out ‘Honey Rums’.
The Rum Company has a number of rums that offer honey or honeycomb accents, just type ‘honey’ into the search bar or take a look at the taste notes. Mainbrace, Drum and Black, Libations, Two Drifters Spiced Rum and the majority of the Rockstar Two Swallows range all feature honey or honeycomb notes.
Norfolk Rum Vanilla and Honey Rum; ‘Simple yet complex’
Triple-distilled rum, distilled and fermented in Norfolk combined with warm Norfolk honey, vanilla with a gentle caress of sweet caramel. What can be smoother than silky honey and smooth vanilla together? Ben at Norfolk Spirits recommends you enjoy this fine Norfolk Honey Rum neat or with ice. Or pair with a ginger beer and sprig of freshly clapped mint, ideal for a warm summer’s night.
Keeprs Honey Spiced Rum; ‘FROM BRITISH BEES TO YOU’
Crafted in the Cotswolds, Oxfordshire, punchy Florida rum is infused with raw unadulterated British honey, mixed spices (cinnamon, clove, vanilla) and pure Cotswold water. Honey sweetness balances woody complexity. Pair Keeprs Honey Rum with a fiery ginger beer and freshly squeezed lime for a perfect serve.
Pant Y Foel Honey Spiced Rum: ‘Unique, exciting and adventurous’
Crafted in North Wales near the Hiraethog Valley where the hares dance and play fight in the open fields. A sensational spiced rum with locally sourced honey with notes of sticky toffee pudding, smooth vanilla, clove and subtle salt-pepper balance.
Burning Barn Honey and Rum Liqueur; ‘Liquid gold in a bottle’
The finest aged golden rum from Guyana blended with pure British blossom honey from their own hives on site. Naturally sweet, silky, rich with peppery notes and the heady floral haze of the British summer … picnic anyone? Pair with sharp citrus mixer such as a cloudy lemonade or grapefruit soda.
Grumblebee Honey Spiced Rum; ‘Save the bees, drink Grumblebee Rum’
West Indian rum infused with fragrant honey from the farm’s own rescued honeybees in the Exe Valley, Devon. A unique profile of smooth vanilla, warm honey, toffee apple and a hint of citrus. The team at Grumblebee recommend pairing their Honey Spiced Rum with half apple juice and half lemonade.
Honey is often used in mixology so let’s not forget about cocktails featuring honey! Try the ‘Honey Bee’, sweet, funky and sour. Mix a double measure of a good quality rum with ½ tblsp of honey, ½ tblsp of water and lemon juice. Or try the Rum Hot Toddy if you’re feeling under the weather – ‘Rum is to numb, syrup is to soothe’. Mix a 30ml of spiced rum, juice of 1 lemon, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 tbsp of honey and add boiling water.
So honey and rum… they BEE-long together
Cheers! Or Skol (if you’re a Viking)