Slàinte Mhath
Rum is a drink with a lively culture, taste and history, and North Star brewery has bottled all of that
This month’s tipple is rum with a Scottish twist
THINK Rum. Think images of swashbuckling pirates and privateers-ofold, cutting a dash through sharkinfested Caribbean waters.
Delve into the history books, however, and you will find that the buccaneers’ poison of choice also has potent links with the dreich, dark and dangerous streets of Glasgow, circa 1650.
Speaking from his Glasgow headquarters, independent bottler Iain Croucher, of North Star Spirits, takes up the pulsating tale.
“Rolling back to the mid-17th century, amid plague, disastrous fires and squalor, the power brokers of this here city were also enjoying a sweet period of growth and prosperity.
“For more than 100 years, Glasgow was a hub for rum production. It was right in the middle of a sugar boom and most of the city’s sugar refineries housed a rum distillery.”
With the growth of whisky and gin, however, relative quiet followed the sugar high. Fast forward to the present day and, after some 300 years, the Scottish-caribbean connection has burst back onto the scene with aplomb.
The north-east of Scotland became home to the UK’S first rum distillery in three centuries with Dark Matter, based in Banchory, opening in 2015. Since then, a whole host of rum brands have popped up across the country.
And that’s provided a vibrant new category for Iain to get his teeth into.
Gallus Glasgow, a city of undoubted character, is a fitting stage for his colourful act – with links to wild celebrity parties and lock-ins by order of the late North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il...
“Mainstream whisky brands are mostly about consistency,” Iain said. “Nose, taste, ABV and sometimes colour have to be the same. North Star, as an independent bottler, focuses its energies on actively seeking out and bottling the curiosities, peculiar oddities and obscurities.
Now El Miguelito Rum takes pride of place among a stellar cast of hand-picked single malt and blended whiskies of North Star’s stable.
It’s a blend of Cuban and Jamaican rum – specifically Jamaica’s Monymusk Distillery – with a gallus edge. The rum has been bottled in tribute to, and in collaboration with, The – thoroughly Scottish – Cuban Brothers.
Mike Keat, eponymously also known as Miguelito, is
originally from Edinburgh and started The Cuban Brothers in the mid-1990s. Miguelito and his “suspect sidekicks” are inspired by Cuban culture and music – Miguelito lived there in the 1990s – have now become renowned the world-over for their party-starting skills, risqué sketches and funk-fuelled music. They also picked up the Best International Act at the Scottish Music Awards in 2019.
“I have seen them perform at festivals all over the world but it took me 20 years to pluck up the courage to ask them to collaborate on this bottling,” says Iain.
Speaking to The Scots Magazine, Miguelito said, “I think being Scottish makes you inherently cool regardless of which sphere of entertainment you work in!”
The band’s private party work is a staple – everyone from Elton John to Richard Branson have called on The Cuban Brothers to sprinkle their magic.
“The late Supreme Leader Kim Jong-ii flew us to North Korea, along with a few other well-kent faces, to perform for his cabinet,” said Miguelito.
“He then went on to keep us captive for days! We weren’t allowed to leave the hotel, and our passports and cameras were confiscated during our short stay there.
“There was, however, a karaoke bar in the hotel basement, where I got fellow guest David Hasselhoff to sing an unaccompanied version of the Baywatch theme with the boys from Jackass, who were also present.”
Ian sees the group’s natural flair for wild fun as the perfect pairing with rum.
“There are plenty of other distillers and bottlers producing and bottling rum, however we wanted to blend both Scotland and the Caribbean together.
“North Star – a Scottish indie bottler, wanted to accentuate the origin of the rum we are bottling, and The Cuban Brothers bring just that, along with legendary outfits, a little disco funk – and 100% Scottish DNA. ”