Forty years after the final Royal Navy rum ration, Speciality Drinks launched a rum yesterday with a recreation of the ritual aboard HMS Belfast.

Black Tot Last Consignment is a blend of remaining stocks of rum from 1970, which have been stored until now in wicker clad stone flagons. This limited edition (54.3% abv) combines rums from Guyana, Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad, and will sell for £600 per bottle, available from 31 July. The rum itself has a distinct demerara character, with complex dark red and stone fruit notes on the nose, and juicy acidity on the palate.

Black tot day commemorates the day when the 300-year-old rum ration tradition ended, on 31 July 1970 at 11am. At the time, the issue was two-and-a-half ounces of rum per day.

News item from Imbibe.com, 28-07-2010