Combining flavours from the Caribbean and the east coast of Scotland to create something truly special is what the East Neuk Spirits Co is all about.
The business, founded in 2022 by friends David Taylor and Rory Hunter, produces a range of quality rums from its Upper Largo headquarters.
Each of these rums is the product of international craft as well as Scottish expertise. The company’s flagship product, Dorchadas Amber Spiced Rum, for example, contains pot still rums from Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, which are then blended and spiced in Scotland by the East Neuk Spirits team.
There’s also Dorchadas Washed Ashore, a series of single cask bottlings that were distilled in various tropical locations before being cask-matured in Scotland.
The current Washed Ashore bottling was distilled in Mauritius, with future bottlings distilled in the Dominican Republic and Barbados.
It’s not just the blending and maturation that has a Scottish stamp on it. All the water the company uses in its blending is distilled sea water, a sustainable source of high quality demineralised water from the East Neuk Salt Co, and is a byproduct of that company’s production process.
Similarly, cocoa husks used in the creation of the core Dorchadas spiced rum are a byproduct from a local chocolatier. And rather than use any artificial colouring, East Neuk Spirits Co uses locally-sourced sea buckthorn in Dorchadas, which imparts an amber hue to the liquid as well as citrus flavours.
Meanwhile, the company is preparing to move into a new segment of the rum market with the launch of a white rum.
David told SLTN: “We realised there is a bit of a gap in the market for white rums. There’s the big-name incumbents, who we will never be able to compete with. But people want provenance and locality in terms of their supply chains, and we think there’s a really good opportunity to encourage younger drinkers less familiar with rums to drink something high quality at a good, affordable price.
“We wanted our white rum to be accessible for new entrants to the rum market that could be put off by big Jamaican funk bombs. So we made something that works perfectly with Coke.”
