Rum - Under starter’s orders

With its recently-launched premium British red rum, Surrey-based Morant Bay is harking back to its Jamaican heritage and hoping it’s on to a winner, as Peter Ellegard reports.

Red Rum. It’s a name that resonates with the British public, thanks to the heroics of the beloved three-time Grand National champion. Now there’s a new red rum to savour and it is fast coming up on the rails in the drinks world.    Conceived and distilled in the UK and launched to the public in March 2015, Morant Bay Signature Edition Spiced Red Rum is the only red rum produced in the UK. In addition, it’s the only craftsman-produced, non-traditional red rum in the world. However, its origins are very much steeped in Jamaica, as are the ingredients that give this drink its distinctive colour and taste.    The man behind Morant Bay has a background as colourful as his creation. Peter Townsend is a teetotal former cop and one-time Motown musician whose family has been running a sugar cane plantation in Jamaica for almost 125 years.    Born and raised in South London after his parents emigrated to Britain in the early 1960s, Peter spent nine years with the Metropolitan Police as a neighbourhood office and police constable before quitting to follow his dream. He proceeded to set up the Morant Bay Distillery Company with his wife, Nicki.

FAMILY ROOTS. Peter returned to his family roots for the venture. Although based in Croydon, the company’s name is taken from a town in the parish of Westmoreland, Jamaica. Here, Peter’s great grandfather, James Townsend, bought a plot of land in 1893 as a 19-year-old and started growing sugar cane, initially selling the produce locally but then supplying cane and molasses (black treacle) to Tate & Lyle.    The plantation was passed on to Peter’s grandfather, Lopez, on his death in 1940. Peter’s father, Brenton, took over running the estate when he died in 1981, having returned to Jamaica with wife Glenies. On their deaths, in 2014 and 2012 respectively, the sugar estate was left to the fourth Townsend generation of Peter and his three siblings – Colleen, Juliet and Dexter – and it is still run by the family.    Besides sugar cane and blackstrap molasses, the estate also produces fruits and botanicals. And it is those products, sourced from the plantation, that are used in the production process of the Morant Bay rum. The delicate infusion of Jamaican hibiscus flowers, sorrel, cherries and spices are among the constituent elements that give it the pinkish hue and characteristic sweet flavours.    Peter turned to the multiple award-winning independent distillery – the English Spirit Distillery Company – which was established in 2009 and which produces its own range of spirits and liqueurs, for help in developing his rum.

JAMAICAN CLIMATE. The recipe took three years to develop and the distillery now produces and bottles the rum at its plant in Great Yeldham, north Essex, replicating the Jamaica climate for rum production. Morant Bay’s rum is fermented, triple-distilled and aged in temperature-controlled conditions under the watchful eye of founder John Walters, a master distiller who is a doctor of biochemistry.    Since launching, Morant Bay’s Signature Edition Spiced Red Rum has won a silver award in the 2015 International Spirits Challenge and is up for more honours in overseas competitions.    Now family and staff are busy attending food and drink festivals, country fairs and music events to spread awareness of the rum and build up a buzz about the drink. So far the feedback has been nothing but positive.    The company also supports soul music quintet The British Collective, aka the ‘Godfathers of UK Soul’ – comprising Don-E, Junior Giscombe, Leee John, Noel Mckoy and Omar – by having stands at their gigs, as well as running special joint promotions.

DESIGNER BOTTLES. Following a rebrand earlier this year, the rum is now positioned as a premium product, enhanced by its specially-designed bottles, crystal decanters and other branded items.    Its 42 per cent strength and Caribbean flavours make it ideal as a cocktail mixer and Morant Bay has teamed up with mixologist Alessio Franzese, bar manager at the Rum & Sugar bar, near London’s Canary Wharf, to create a series of cocktail recipes based on its red rum.    In addition, the company is working with master chocolatier Paul Wayne Gregory, who is creating a series of rum-infused chocolate products – among them golf balls packaged in sleeves of three, just like real golf balls – and with Caribbean-born chef Jason Howard, who is spearheading the Rum Dining Revolution, combining Caribbean food with rum-infused or paired dishes.    Morant Bay is really having fun with its rum. It has just held a rum masterclass at Rum & Sugar for a delegation from Italy’s University of Gastronomic Sciences, exploring the history of rum, and food pairing with various cocktails.

WORLDWIDE BRANDING. Available on its website in bottle sizes from 5cl to 75cl and via online retailer Master of Malt, Morant Bay’s Signature Edition Spiced Red Rum is due to be stocked by upmarket hotel chains and top-end stores. Distribution negotiations are also under way with companies in Canada and India, and others are set to follow to take the brand worldwide.    And while the company will focus its UK efforts on the red rum, the goal is to open a distillery back in the family’s homeland, Jamaica. Here the plan is to produce traditional Jamaican rum, and a potential investor has signalled interest in taking that forward.    Everyone involved with Morant Bay is regarded as part of the extended Townsend family. “They are all under the umbrella of our family. Some of the members are not immediate family but we adopt them,” Townsend says, adding that it is very Jamaican to do that.    “That’s why I want to push on with building the distillery in Jamaica. We’re desperately trying to create jobs in the community for people that don’t have anything, people who can’t read or write. To me, they are still human beings and they deserve to have some form of life. If we can teach some of those people how to become a master at what we want them to do then it gives them a purpose. I’m just doing what my mum and dad did, basically, which is caring for people.”    If Morant Bay’s Signature Red Rum gets the backing of the public and proves itself a champion, it won’t just be the company that finds itself in the winners’ circle – the locals in Westmoreland, Jamaica, will have reason to cheer as well.

Morant Bay cocktail recipes

Bay Breeze

Glass: Lowball/tumbler

Ingredients: 35ml Morant Bay Signature Edition Red Rum, 15ml cherry brandy, 10ml grenadine, 30ml cranberry juice, 15ml fresh lemon juice.

Method: Mix all the ingredients – shake and pour over crushed ice. Garnish with strawberries or a slice of orange.

Wanderlust

Glass: Wine glass

Ingredients: 25ml Morant Bay Signature Edition Red Rum, 35ml apricot brandy, 20ml port, 25ml apple juice, 12.5ml lime juice, 1tsb sugar syrup.

Method: Mix all the ingredients – shake and pour over cubed or crushed ice. Garnish with two fresh cherries.

Southern Bay Sunrise

Glass: Wine glass/Hurricane glass

Ingredients: 37.5ml Morant Bay Signature Edition Red Rum, 25ml cranberry juice, 25ml pineapple juice, 25ml orange juice, 12.5ml lime juice, 12.5ml sugar syrup.

Method: Combine the rum and cranberry juice and shake before pouring into the glass. Fill the glass to the rim with crushed ice. Separately mix the other ingredients and shake until frothy, then pour into the glass. Garnish with Morant Bay Rum Truffles or a dehydrated lemon wheel.

Rum ‘n Melon

Glass: Martini (moisten the rim and dip in sugar and pink peppercorn).

Ingredients: 25ml Morant Bay Signature Edition Red Rum, 20ml melon liqueur, 15ml lime juice, 15ml apple juice.

Method: Mix and shake the rum, melon liqueur and lime juice. Pour into the glass and top with apple juice. Do not use ice.