Craft beers and gins have come into their own in the last few years – alongside artisanal bakeries and independent coffee roasters.  So what’s going to be the next big thing amongst small, specialist food and drink businesses? 

If you listened to my podcast with Keterina Albanese at the Pub Show, it could be cider, English whisky or rum.  If it’s rum, then Giles Collighan, Vince Noyce and Dich Oatley will be leading the way. 

I caught up with Vince and Dich at the Portsmouth Distillery, where I discovered that the word ‘rum’ is really an umbrella term for a drink that comes in different guises, from the floral French ‘agricole’ which uses sugar cane juice to the molasses-based rum associated with the British Navy. 

Regular listeners will know that I love meeting people who do things properly.  Who really research and understand their craft and don’t take shortcuts.  This edition is yet another tale of dedication and patience, with Vince in particular devoting hours to researching different rums across the Caribbean, from the Dominican Republic in the North down to Trinidad in the South. It’s a tough gig, but someone’s got to do it… 

And now, they have to impatiently wait 3 years for some of their barrel aged rum to mature, hidden in a casement of a fort built in 1785, providing perfect temperature controlled ageing conditions.