Raiders of the Lost Rum

by Ian Burrell

Part 1

I remember watching the old Indiana Jones movies and wondering how cool it would be to venture to a forbidden land and fight my way through a jungle while battling natures defence elements that protect hidden treasures that were lost to man. Well this is how I felt when I was invited by a certain Mark Lascelles, to his father’s mansion to sample a mystery rum that they had found deep within their wine cellar. The forbidden land was the north of England, (Especially if you’re from London); the Jungle was the city of Leeds (You’d know if you’ve been there); Natures defence elements was the cold northern rain (why is always raining in Leeds?) and the lost treasure….Old, unlabelled rum!!!

After many days travelling, (0.08333 days to be exact) I journeyed to the forbidden land of the white rose (Yorkshire), there I was met by my guide to this strange but dangerous jungle. My guides (Mal Evans, Owner of Mojos bars in Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds and Wine & Spirit consultant Nick Dymoke-Marr, a big game hunter) were natives and spoke the local dialect fluently. This made me feel at ease as I had only just mastered the foreign language of Mancunian. We were soon off on the back of a wild 4 x 4 Land Rover towards our destination….The lost land of West Yorkshire. But first we met up with the Lord of the manor's son at his abode to sample a small taste of the treasure. This was one of the moments that I had been waiting for. To sample a rum that was bottled before the invention of the Coffey still, before Jerry Thomas ever Blue Blazed even before Peter Dorelli started bar backing at the Savoy hotel (now that’s old !)  The bottle was dark green with a few hundred years of dirt and fungus still stuck to its side. It had a wine cork stuck in its neck as the original cork had flaked away while it was first being opened.

There were no visible markings or etchings on the bottle, which gladdened me as I had half expected to see “made in China” on the under side of the vintage bottle. I quickly poured a tot of the liquid gold into my glass. The colour was a slightly cloudy autumn leaf reddish-brown, with a touch of Yorkshire mist. The mist was probably due to fact that this rum had not been chilled filtered thus it became cloudy as it acclimatised to the cold European weather. Medium legs and a slight green tint at the top of the liquid was evidence of some ageing. I then took a deep breath, and nosed…….RAAS! (That’s “oh my gosh” in English) the aroma was “Rum heaven”. The initial aroma was new leather, smoke, and cedar wood, followed by a hint of boiled pear candy; butterscotch, banana, sweet spices with a touch of cloves.

It took me at least 10 minutes before I decide that the time was right for me to taste this mystery rum. Salivating like a fat man at an “all you can eat buffet”, I slowing put the glass to my lips and sipped. As the rum swirled around my palate, coating every taste receptacle on my tongue, I felt a gentle warmth rising like the morning sun in my mouth. There was no harsh burn that I might have expected from a rum that was clearly over proofed nor the unpleasant finish that one might have expected from a rum that had not had the advantage of modern blending techniques. On the contrary, this rum was sweet on the initial taste, and then it quickly dissolves on your tongue like a “rum flavoured candy floss”, with a slight woody, tannin coating for good measure. Some may say that this rum may be far too woody or has too much flavour, but they would probably be far more suited to a light Latin styled Column stilled rum, than a 100% Alembic rum. The finish was long, bitter sweet pepper with a touch of toffee & burnt sugar. I was convinced that this was most certainly the real deal and worth risking life and limb to venture into the unknown to seek out this treasure trove and solve the burning questions like what was the true age of this rum? What plantation distilled it? Which island did it come from? What strength was it? And why do people still pay £25 plus pounds for a bottle of vodka? Only time and maybe a possible a bar-code would tell. So Mojo Mal; “Big Game hunter” Nick Dymoke-Marr; Mark Lascelles and I jumped onto the 4 x 4 beast and headed to the lost land of West Yorkshire to make a raid on the lost rum.

To Be Continued !!!!