The 45: brotherhood at the heart of Jacobite Spirits
How it all began?
The hardest part of telling this tale is working out how far back to go. The real beginning is so much further back but we will start where it makes sense, a voyage of discovery.
We, 8 friends love to travel. Euan, Jamie, Marcus, Michael, Pat, Ronnie, Stevie and Tony. Together, we have seen much of the world- not always as a group of 8 but regularly as a variable sum of our parts. There’s not much of the world that hasn’t seen one of the Jacobite Spirits team. In fact, we asked and other than the 2 frozen poles, we have most of the world covered.
We have a diverse background- not one of us has a career or expertise in the same sector. This has been helpful given that none of us had any experience of making rum. But, yes folks, some of you are ahead already here, we do have a shared appreciation of all things alcohol. For us, it is a regular source of “discovery” on our journeys around the world!
From drinking buddies to distilling buddies
So, late in 2018, as our shared interest and participation in sport that brought us together as friends and directed us to booze/pubs and international travel was waning we hit upon an idea to bring us together in an enterprise.
Luckily, as the “Mum and Dad” of the group, Jamie and Tony had already been researching just such an opportunity. By the start of 2019 the idea to produce Rum was underway.
After much discussion and debate, Jacobite Spirits was born with Rum planned as the first product. Why rum? This was simple- everyone else was doing Gin and we felt that so much of the “Craft Gin” market was a bit inauthentic. Our Rum project wasn’t really anything other than trying something new and starting on a journey of discovery- and that’s what happened.
Why Jacobite Spirits?
There’s a lot to this but at the heart is a spirit of rebellion that we feel we share. The Jacobites were a diverse group of Scots and allies from around the world who gathered around a cause - they believed in working together to achieve something better. We share that Spirit of Rebellion - the knowledge that things can be done differently. And so we set off on our journey of discovery with a brand we felt was Scottish but also international. The 45 is our first Rum and commemorates the end of one rebellion and the start of another.
The Rum Shack!
By late spring we had researched the process and ordered our first still. We had experimented with flavour profiles and of course, sampled a LOT of other rum, which was surprisingly insightful. There’s a lot happening with Rum. We knew what we liked and we also wanted to keep as much of this an authentic Scottish product.
In June this year we were awarded our License and the real work began.
We built a modest distillery- in a hidden location, of course, and the Jacobite Spirits Rum shack shook into action. Our rum, The 45, is finished in a bourbon and whisky cask- bringing together that spirit of journey, and to an extent, the spirit of rebellion! We are still building our operation but are excited to start the next phase of our journey together- and to bring you with us!