Our Rums
WE PRODUCE THREE KINDS OF RUM
To make rum, you have to use some part of the sugarcane plant. Our choice is blackstrap molasses, a by-product of manufacturing white sugar. Blackstrap molasses contains the necessary minerals and nutrients to produce a full-flavoured rum. We combine the molasses with yeast, nutrients, trace minerals and filtered water. This mixture is fermented for five days and then distilled and barreled at around 58% alcohol. Rum must age for a minimum of one year in Canada. At this point, most of our rum has aged at least 5 years
57% Leatherback Rum
Our 57% Leatherback Rum ages in new barrels with a light toast and a heavy char, resulting in a unique-tasting spirit with enhanced caramel flavour and character. Some might say it is whiskey-like. In comparison, 99% of all commercial rum is aged in used barrels, which fails to add anything unique to the final product.
We believe all our rums are terrific—hey, call us biased—but our 57% Leatherback stands alone as the purest expression of our rum. It is a single-barrel rum that we bottle at barrel strength—right out of the cask into the jug. Each barrel yields approximately 220 bottles. Worth noting, we're one of the only distilleries in Canada to produce a barrel-strength rum. This strength results in a unique strong taste that might not be suitable for all cocktails. Like us, we find that most traditional rum enthusiasts enjoy it neat, just like you would an overproof whiskey. If you dilute it even to 40%, there's a noticeable loss of colour, flavour and character.
40% Leatherback Rum
Our 40% rum is a lighter version of our Leatherback. It is a blend of a new and reused barrel. Reused barrels produce a lighter flavour that most people are looking for when concocting rum based drinks. 99% of most commercial rum is sweetened with caramel but with our 40% and 57% there are no other additives except distilled water added after to reduce the proof. The sweetness that you experience in our rum comes from the sugars released from the toasted char of the barrel.
Spiced Leatherback Rum
Our Spiced Leatherback Rum is similar to our 40% version; we take real ingredients (orange peel, cinnamon and clove) and vapour infuse them into the rum, adding vanilla and caramel to create a sweet, spiced version of our 40%. It is aged in two of our own reused barrels, resulting in a light rum flavour. It is a favourite of customers who enjoy a xmas rum and eggnog, rum and coke, hot toddies, but also perfect for all types of rum cocktails.
Every time we sell a bottle of Leatherback Rum, a portion of the proceeds is donated to the Canadian Sea Turtle Network—a charitable organization based in Halifax that is working to conserve endangered sea turtles in Canadian waters and abroad.