With a Caribbean cruise booked for next year, covid pending, I am already excited to discover the rum distilleries of Barbados and Trinidad. I have always been a lover of rum and have been to a fair few rum tastings in my time, with a decent mai tai being my cocktail of choice off any cocktail menu. It is so hard to get right and many just make them far too sweet. Whilst I am super excited to visit Caribbean rum distilleries, we actually have a rum made just down the road in Salford and their newest addition is Salford Rum Dark Spice.
The Salford Rum Company was formed by old school friends Jame Harrison and Tommy Gaughan, and celebrates the heritage of Salford Docks throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s. During this time, Salford Docks was the third largest port in the UK and imports included rum, fruit and spices from the Caribbean, when they were landing in the UK for the first time.
Salford Rum Dark Spice is the second rum in the Salford Rum Company range and is made using rums from Barbados, which is matured for up to eight years in old bourbon, American white oak casks. The rums are then blended with spices which gives flavours of vanilla, coconut, burnt caramel and cloves.
The bottle design is incredibly unique, with the etched drawing of local artist Dave Draws, depicting the streets of the local area to really hammer home where the magic happens.
The signature serve is simply with coke or ginger beer, but I thought I would mix it up a bit during this cold snap and created the perfect spiced rum hot chocolate.
Spiced Rum Hot Chocolate – Serves 1
Ingredients
3 heaped teaspoons of cocoa powder
350ml whole milk
50ml Salford Rum Dark Spice
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
Spray Cream
Cinnamon stick to garnish
Method
Heat the milk either in a saucepan or the microwave.
When hot, add the cocoa powder and mix until smooth.
Add the rum and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and stir to combine.
Pour into a mug and top with lashings of spray cream, the remaining cinnamon and the cinnamon stick.
Rum spiked hot chocolate is just perfect for this weather, with the vanilla and burnt caramel flavours of the Salford Rum Dark Spice really complimenting the sweet chocolate and the warmth of the cinnamon. Other rums would be lost with the strong flavours but not Salford Rum Dark Spice. I can’t wait to see what summery drinks I can create when the weather starts to warm up.
