Scottish Lowland Rum

Travel Distilled reviews a Scottish Lowland Rum from the John Paul Jones Distillery based on the south coast of Dumfries and Galloway in southern Scotland.

We know where we’re headed next time we visit one of our favourite parts of Scotland, the Solway Coast of Dumfries and Galloway. It’ll be Arbigland, which now has two claims to fame. One is that it’s the birthplace of John Paul Jones, who went to sea and to the USA, became a naval captain, the USA’s first naval commander, fought in the American Revolutionary War, and earned himself the description of ‘Father of the American Navy’

Jones was born in poverty and raised on the Arbigland Estate, and would no doubt be amazed to discover that there’s now a museum there devoted to him.

Also born and brought up on the Arbigland Estate, a half-hour’s drive south from Dumfries, was Ollie Blackett. Ollie didn’t run away to sea but was inspired by the stories he heard about John Paul Jones, and in 2020 opened a distillery just down the road from the birthplace museum with two colleagues. What else could he call it but the John Paul Jones Distillery, or JPJ for short.

The label on A Bottle of John Paul Jones Scottish Lowland Rum — JPJ Scottish Lowland Rum

Creating a Distillery

Ollie founded the distillery with his two friends, Finnian Gill and Jack Cuddigan. All three were rising the career ladder with jobs in London, until COVID struck and they all lost their jobs. Fired by ambition and a mutual love of rum, the three men didn’t sit around feeling sorry for themselves but invested their furlough money and raised other funds to open the distillery.

Scottish Lowland Rum Reviews

It’s here that Ollie and his co-founders produced the first 400-bottle batch of their Scottish Lowland Rum, a batch which very quickly sold out. This isn’t surprising as it picked up a load of accolades, including one from Jeremy Clarkson, who called it ‘brilliant’, and rave reviews in the Daily Mail, Country Life, and The Spectator, amongst others.

Making Scottish Lowland Rum

I don’t know too much about the production process, other than that the rum is aged in charred American oak barrels. Nothing out of the ordinary there, but it does have one unusual ingredient: seaweed. This is hand-foraged from the Solway Firth, and the rum is then seeped in it.

Having been lucky enough one time to go foraging on Islay with The Botanist, and invited to taste several seaweeds on the beach in front of the distillery, I know that different ones have distinct flavours. One even tasted like mustard!

Tasting Scottish Lowland Rum

But a rum that tastes of seaweed? Actually, it doesn’t. On the nose it’s very light and fresh-smelling, with hints of oak and vanilla, and with a sweet spiciness. On the palate we still didn’t get any seaweed but we did get even more freshness, perhaps a little mint and other herbs, joining the oak and vanilla. The finish is more of the same, rounded out by suggestions of coffee or chocolate. What a great dessert rum this would make.

Scottish Lowland Rum Cocktails

The JPJ website suggests several cocktail options for their Lowland Rum, including a Rum Old-Fashioned, a Rum Negroni, and even an Espresso Martini using Lowland Rum instead of vodka. But we kept it simple and mixed it with Fever Tree Ginger Ale, and it was fantastic. I don’t often agree with what Jeremy Clarkson says but I do this time – it’s brilliant.