Mainbrace Rum Review

You’ve heard of spiced rum but Mainbrace, a premium rum from Cornwall, is something different – a spliced rum, a blend of rums from Guyana and Martinique.

There’s definitely a thing for Cornish rums right now, often with names that have piratical, naval or smuggling references, like Dead Man’s Fingers or Mooncurser, and now here comes Mainbrace. Or indeed a brace of Mainbraces, as there’s a regular rum and a Navy Strength expression.

Splice the Mainbrace

We’ve all heard the expression ‘splice the mainbrace’, but what does it actually mean? Well, the mainbrace is the rope that controls the wooden device known as a spar, from which the main sail of a sailing ship is hung. And although splicing originally meant to cut, in naval terms it came to mean the opposite… joining two bits of rope together.

So, if your mainbrace splits, you’re in trouble as you won’t be able to control your main sail, and the mainbrace has to be spliced immediately. It’s a tough job, especially as such splits often happen in stormy weather, and any sailors who helped to splice the mainbrace earned a double helping of their daily rum ration. Eventually the term ‘splice the mainbrace’ was used as an order to give all the sailors a drink.

Mainbrace Rum

It’s an apt name for any rum, then, but especially for this one which splices, or joins, a rum from Guyana with a rum from Martinique in a unique blend. It’s unique because no-one before has blended a ‘rhum agricole’ made from sugar cane juice in the French Caribbean, with a rum from Guyana, typically known for making sweeter rums.

In fact the Guyana rum is itself a blend of three different rums. One is made in a double wooden pot still in Port Mourant, on the Guyanese Caribbean coast, at a distillery which has been making rum for the British Navy since the 19th century. The second Guyana rum is produced on the last wooden Coffey still in the world, while the third is made on an 18th-century four-column French Savalle still.

When the Guyana rums have been well and truly spliced they’re shipped almost 1,000 miles (1,600 kms) across the Caribbean to the island of Martinique, also known for its quality rums. The rum goes to La Favorite Distillery, which has been in business since 1842 and is the last rum distillery on Martinique operating purely from steam. Sugar cane fibers fuel the furnaces which produce the steam used in the distillation process, making the distillery extremely sustainable.

The Proof of the Splicing…

… is in the tasting, of course, but first a look at the bottle. Just as the rum is unique, the handsome bottle too is an original. It’s got a long thin neck and is shaped a little like a larger version of the kind of bell that a handbell-ringer would ring. The bell-bottom shape is in fact intended to resemble the ‘grog tubs’ that the navy used to dispense the rum ration from. It certainly looks good on the shelf, and feels good in the hand.

Mainbrace Rum Review

Mainbrace’s first rum, their Premium Golden Rum, was launched at London’s RumFest in October 2019. It is indeed a lovely golden colour, and is 40% ABV. On the nose there’s a rich, buttery-vanilla smell, alongside raisins, tropical fruit, dried fruit and spices – all typical rum aromas. There’s a slight hazelnut scent too. On the palate all those aromas follow through, along with some toffee/burnt caramel flavours. It’s exceptionally smooth, which you especially notice on the long and very pleasing finish.

Mainbrace Navy Strength Rum

In July 2020 Mainbrace followed its Premium Golden Rum with a Navy Strength version in a limited edition of only 500 bottles. This was bottled at 54.5% ABV, the minimum alcoholic strength that would still allow gunpowder to light if it was soaked in the rum, from which we get the term ‘proof’ – this was proof of the alcoholic strength, with the proof of a spirit being twice its ABV percentage.

The bottles are identical, the labels naturally different, and view the rums side by side and you see the much deeper colour of the Navy Strength version. That difference in colour is also what you get when you smell and taste the Navy Strength rum. The aromas and flavours are pretty much the same, but everything is intensified, richer, deeper, and despite the high ABV the finish is still perfectly smooth.

They are certainly two exceptionally fine rums, and good news for the Cornish rum scene.