Twin Fin Rum from Cornwall

This first rum from Tarquin’s Distillery in Cornwall adds to their range of great spirits and has an unusual almond and honey sweetness.

A recent bottle of Blood Orange Gin from Tarquin’s Distillery was a spectacular success, not only with me but with all my friends who tried it. You can read the review and learn all about Tarquin Leadbetter and his distillery here.

I was therefore keen to try their Twin Fin Spiced Golden Rum, the distillery’s first rum, which comes in an attractive turquoise bottle. At 38% ABV it’s a notch less strong than the average rum.

The Rums

The twin rums in Twin Fin come from the Caribbean, and they’d be right at home on a sunny day in Cornwall, as you can see from the photos. One is a Jamaican pot-still rum and the other a light, column-still rum from the Dominican Republic, both countries I’ve visited and both with a strong rum pedigree.

When the rums reach the north Cornwall coast the new rum is made using a spice recipe created by Leadbetter on his Cornish copper pot stills. The recipe’s secret but the distiller does reveal that there’s vanilla and orange in there. The result is finished off with a dash of Pedro Ximenez sherry and then ‘rested’ over charred oak chips which have also been soaked in the Pedro Ximinez. It’s a long process and a lot of work, so is it worth it?

Twin Fin Rum from Cornwall

One sniff of the rum and I was hooked. You can detect the vanilla, as well as some banana and orange, but the strongest aromas for me were almond and honey. It was a beautiful blend, well worth a few more sniffs.

There’s a touch of cloves but the spice side of it doesn’t really come through till you taste it, and then some cinnamon joins the party though plenty of sweetness remains. Too sweet, my wife thought, so I’ll be forced to finish the bottle by myself. It won’t be a hardship, as the rum also has an excellent finish, with a hint of whisky smokiness.

Spiced Golden Rum Cocktails

The distiller admits that the rum has been created with cocktails in mind, as much as for sipping neat. I had some Fever-Tree Ginger Ale and a lime so put together their suggested serve of a Cornish Beach Cooler, their take on a Mojito. I left the brown sugar out, though, as it was already sweet enough for my taste. It was a refreshing drink, with the ginger giving a nice boost to the spiciness of the rum.

More Rum Cocktails

You can find several more cocktail recipes on the Twin Fin website. Twin Fin won’t be to everyone’s taste, if you don’t like your spirits overly sweet, but for me it was a great blend of sweet and spicy.

Buying Twin Fin Rum from Cornwall

You can buy the rum direct from the Twin Fin website, and from Master of Malt. If you live in the UK it’s also available on Amazon. In the US, there’s a huge range of rums on Caskers.