Orkney's J. Gow Rum launches second cask-aged rum

Young Scottish distillery J. Gow Rum has added a three-year-old cask-aged pot still rum to its core range.

Like all of the Orkney distillery's spirits, Revenge was distilled on site, then aged in ex-Bourbon and virgin oak casks for three years. It follows the launch of its Hidden Depths Vol. 1 rum, the UK's first three-year-old cask-aged rum, in late 2020.

Located on the tiny island of Lamb Holm, Orkney, J. Gow Rum is owned by Collin Van Schayk, who conducts every part of the process from distilling to drawing the illustrations on the bottle labels.

The distillery takes its name from infamous Orcadian pirate John Gow. The new Revenge rum is named after a ship that Gow renamed after leading a mutiny on board due to poor working conditions.

Collin Van Schayk said: "I started distilling rum back in 2016. My dad owns Orkney Wine Company and suggested that I might take over the family business. Instead, I saw an opportunity to fulfil my ambition to start a rum distillery and used a bit of his winery space to install some pot stills.

"Everything is done on site, from distilling to cask storage to bottling. It's a tight space, but the location is amazing and I love what I do. It’s very important to me that everything is done here at the distillery, so that I can proudly say what I produce is 'Scottish rum'."

"Rum can be released without barrel aging, but I want to build up stock of aged rums to be able to release three, eight and 12-year-olds - and beyond - to really showcase Scottish aged rum and the incredible effects casks can have on the end result."

J. Gow Rum says its Revenge rum adheres to its house style of a fuller-bodied rum, with hints of vanilla and coconut. It is made without added sugar, artificial flavours or colourings.

21 April 2021 - Bethany Whymark