Pussers Rum Gunpowder Black Label 54.5 Percent ABV

Product Information

Various half-finished projects sit on my desk which, by stages, creep towards completion as time allows. There are a handful of benefits to be had in being a boutique rum company, one is the flexibility to experiment and do short production runs. Something that the larger companies can not do as freely. One such is an annual release begun last October and timed to coincide with the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, an important date in the history of the Royal Navy. This tiny test run of only 50 bottles was matured over a year in a cask of French oak and bottled at 60%abv.

It’s sweeter on the palate, with more pronounced brown sugar rather than molasses notes. There are tropical fruit notes of melon and mango, along with prune, caramel and milk chocolate. The rum is smoother, with a more pronounced palate weight, and is less peppery than its brethren. The extended aging is evident in the more noticeable oak notes.Pusser’s Gunpowder Proof is an authentic recreation of the high proof rum served on Royal Navy ships for more than three centuries. It is a blend of rums from Trinidad and Guyana. The expression is blended in Barbados, although it does not appear to contain any rums from that island. The rum carries no age statement (NAS). On the nose, there are pronounced molasses and dark sugar notes, followed by a creamy, almost buttery aroma, vanilla and dried fruits notes of dates, prunes and figs, along with tropical spices of nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, pepper and just a touch of clove and a hint of furniture wax. Rum is easily obtained in quantity in NZ, and some of it is of a certain degree of quality, but as rum has long been considered a holiday and party beverage, the average Kiwi is not prepared to pay terribly much for a bottle of the stuff. Scotch is a luxury brand, rum is not.

While I remember well the bottle of 1930’s Jamaican rum I once had the privilege to enjoy, this is not a rum I can lay my hands on ever again. Instead, when not throwing down my own kill-devil blend, I am partial to the Plantation, El Dorado, Mount Gay, Flor de Cana, St James and Appleton rums as well as any Conquering Lion or Cuban aguardiente I can lay my hands on. The Royal Canadian Navy followed suit on March 31, 1972, and the New Zealand Navy carried on the tradition until February 28, 1990. The Australian Navy had done away with the rum ration in 1921. In 1979, American entrepreneur Charles Tobias reached an agreement with the Royal Navy to produce “navy rum” in the same style as traditional Royal Navy rum. Tobias secured the recipe, hitherto a secret, in return for a royalty paid to the Admiralty. Pusser’s Rum Ltd was set up in Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands, to bottle and distribute the rum.The finish is long, initially dry and peppery, with tropical spice notes, followed by lingering dried fruit sweetness and a bit of bitterness. This Pusser’s 15 YO is the company’s only aged expression. Historically, it was a blend of rums from Guyana, Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad. Lately, it appears that the rums have been drawn entirely from the Demerara Distillery in Guyana. Around 50% of the blend is from the wooden pot, double distilled rums from the Port Mourant still, and the balance is from column stills at Demerara. The 15 YO is a different blend of rums than its siblings.

Royal Navy rum gave rise to two enduring traditions: the concept of proof and the term splice the mainbrace. On the palate, the rum is sweet, with distinct molasses and caramel flavors, followed by tropical fruit notes of melon and banana, along with flavors of raisin, a bit of prune and date and some dried orange peel. There are also some licorice/anise notes and a hint of coffee. The rum is very peppery. The higher alcohol is evident. Think of a liquid ginger-molasses cookie.The company behind this all is Smoke & Oakum with BH Simpson at the helm. Alongside Gunpowder Rum they are also delving into history to re-create other long lost creations. Pusser’s rums consist of rums sourced from Guyana. Each of the rums in the core range are different blends of rums in accordance with the Admiralty’s specifications. These are all, rich, powerful, full-bodied, robust rums with a substantial palate weight and texture. Below are tasting notes on the core range of Pusser’s rum offerings. When the mainbrace was cut, sailors would have to climb up the rigging and splice together the ends of the mainbrace that had been cut. Tying together two ropes the size of a man’s arm while perched in the ships rigging during a naval battle was no easy task. Initially the U.S. Navy also continued the tradition of a daily rum ration. Starting in 1794, when the U.S. Navy was officially established listed, sailors were given “one half-pint of distilled spirits” per day. The Navy encouraged sailors to drink American made whiskey since it was cheaper than imported rums. American sailors also had the option of forgoing their spirit ration and receiving an additional three to six cents a day in wages. From the home of rum history, lore, and expertise – the Caribbean and South America. Hundreds of years of sugar cane cultivation and rum distillation saturate the landscape and its peoples, and I can’t help but feel that by bringing my base rum from this source I am maintaining a historical link between S&O’s Gunpowder Rum and the Golden Age of Piracy (and the quality is hard to beat)

The practice of the daily rum ration was also adopted by the various commonwealth navies that grew out of the Royal Navy.

Tobias called his rum Pusser’s Rum. The term pusser was Royal Navy slang for the purser aboard ship. It was the purser that was responsible for the rum store on the ship and for supervising doling out the daily rum tot. Fine dark rum with a rich bouquet and a full, complex flavour. Pussers Rum Gunpowder Proof is the original Admiralty Rum at issue strength.