The vast majority of these new artisan rums are dark and spiced – good white rum is available, but the most interesting bottles play around with the sugars and spices found in the darker liquids. Katherine Jenner, managing director of Burning Barn Rum, has created two rums – a spiced and the UK’s first smoked rum – and is spearheading this new wave of artisan rum production.

The family-owned Burning Barn Rum has secured listings in 74 Tesco stores from early September for two of its variants: a spiced rum and a honey and rum liqueur.For those seeking a touch of zing, Burning Barn Smoked Rum & Ginger RTD is expertly blended with mouth-watering ginger beer –as good as any bartender’s shaken and stirred counterpart but for a fraction of the price! Julie Ashfield, Managing Director of Buying at Aldi UK says: “Katherine and Harry’s rum certainly made an impression on us here at Aldi and we’re excited to be working alongside the team to create the perfect product that we know our customers will love.” Spiced rum is a delightful and aromatic variation of traditional rum. Infused with a tantalising blend of spices and other flavourings. While the exact recipe can vary from one brand to another, they commonly include cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and vanilla. These spices add complexity and warmth to the rum, creating a unique and flavourful profile.

It pairs exceptionally well with cola, ginger beer, or fruit juices, creating refreshing and satisfying beverages. People often use it in baking and cooking to add depth and warmth to dishes such as rum-infused cakes, sauces, and marinades. Burning Barn Rum is made using molasses in column and pot stills at the Diamond Distillery just outside Guyana’s capital, Georgetown. They are aged in the Caribbean in American Oak bourbon casks, before being shipped to the UK where the rums are flavoured, filtered and bottled on the family farm in Eastcote, Solihull. As well as being motivated by the fire, the team were also inspired by the popularity of craft beer and the gin movement. They decided to set their sights on producing a craft rum offering. They took inspiration from the fire for their flavours and used only the best quality ingredients combined with their apple wood. A terrible fire which destroyed her father-in-law’s toffee apple business inspired Katherine Jenner to launch a brand of rum that boasts not only a distinctive name but also a highly individual, winning taste. Katherine can’t see rum overtaking gin as the UK’s spirit of choice, but she believes there’s a huge gap in the market for premium rums that appeal to people who might have enjoyed mass-made rums when they were younger and are now looking for something more interesting or discerning to buy. Like gin, rum isn’t something people tend to drink neat (although Burning Barn’s smoked rum is smooth enough to enjoy on its own over a few ice cubes). Instead, the more pronounced flavours of top-quality rum complement mixers like cola or ginger beer in a more nuanced way.Katherine and Harry started off by experimenting with creating different flavours in their kitchen. They realised that they had found “something pretty amazing” after using apples to produce a smoked rum. They use a French Savalle still, a Wooden Coffey still and a Double Wooden Pot still, known as the Port Mourant. The rum is then matured in the Caribbean heat for two to three years in American oak casks that once held Bourbon whisky. Burning Barn’s hero product is its Smoked rum, which is made using apple wood harvested from the farm’s old orchards. The brand’s Spiced rum is made by infusing hand roasted vanilla, coconut, all spice, ginger and chilli. Flavouring, filtering and bottling is all done by Katherine and Harry on the farm in Eastcote. Big bags of sugar from the existing family business fed fuel to the fire and the barn and business were completely flattened within two hours. We were really motivated to forge something positive from it, so we started our own craft rum business.” Katherine and Harry Jenner’s rum will be listed in stores nationwide after appearing on Aldi’s Next Big Thing last year Watching my father-in-law overcome the devastation of the business he had taken 35 years to build up and rebuild it again was inspirational,” said Katherine. “It inspired me and my husband Harry to start a business of our own.” Katherine had some knowledge of the drinks industry having previously worked for wine discounters and then for the Lidl supermarket chain.

Burning Barn Rum was set up by Solihull entrepreneur Katherine Jenner after a terrible fire destroyed the barn that housed her father-in-law’s toffee apple business in 2015.

Bottle at a glance

The latest additions to Aldi’s award-winning line-up offer a unique and playful take on a Caribbean classic. Boasting notes of caramel and treacle with a burst of apple, the Burning Barn British Apple Spiced Rum offers a deliciously spiced tipple that is both smooth and fiery. Despite the duo’s ‘Burning Barn Rum’ not making it to the final stage at the time, Aldi’s buying team were so impressed with the taste, they asked the craft rum brand to develop and tweak their product for Aldi shoppers. Burning Barn Rum’, is a unique brand that quite literally rose from the ashes of a barn fire on a family farm in Eastcote. Determined to forge something positive from the tragedy and inspired by the fire and smoke of that day, Burning Barn Rum was born.