Probably the most important and critically acclaimed inaugural release from any rum company ever.
Equiano Original from the Equiano Rum Co. is the world’s first African and Caribbean rum and refreshingly it acknowledges how the history of this much-loved spirit is inextricably entangled with the slave trade. Launched just a few months before the murder of George Floyd sparked Black Lives Matter protests around the world Equiano is the rum that the industry desperately needed.
This journey of discovery starts in Africa at Gray’s Distillery in Mauritius with a rum that is aged in French Limousin oak and ex-Cognac casks for ten years. That rum is transported around the world to Barbados in the Caribbean where it is blended with younger rum created at Foursquare Distillery – the five-time consecutive winner of the International Spirits Challenge’s “Rum Producer of the Year”. The two components are married together by the extremely talented Richard Seale in ex-Bourbon casks resulting in a rum that is at least eight years old.
Super smooth Equiano Original has a natural sweetness flecked with delicious savoury notes. Expect cherry wood rooibos tea peel-heavy marmalade on buttered toast fruitcake maple syrup roasted peach vanilla ginger toffee and a finish of peppery spices with hints of mocha. This chestnut-coloured pure rum contains no colourants no spices no additives and no sugars and it has already been awarded gold medals by the International Spirits Challenge the San Francisco World Spirits Competition Concours Mondial Spirits Selection and the International Wine & Spirits Competition. And Stormzy is a big fan too.
The rum is named after Olaudah Equiano who was born in 1745 in what today is Nigeria. He was kidnapped enslaved and shipped across the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean. From there he was sent to Virginia where he was bought by a lieutenant in the Royal Navy who would eventually bring him to England. The tenacious and determined Equiano traded fruit glass tumblers and rum on the side until he had saved the £40 required to buy his freedom back. He settled in London becoming an educated and respected Georgian as well as a writer public speaker entrepreneur and a pioneering anti-slavery activist who fought to free enslaved people across the globe.
One of the Equiano Rum Co.’s co-founders is none other than the fedora-wearing Ian Burrell – the world’s only Global Rum Ambassador the founder of UK Rumfest the former owner of Cotton’s Caribbean restaurant in London and according to Difford’s Guide for Discerning Drinkers “the most entertaining guy you’ll ever meet”. Following in the footsteps of Olaudah Equiano Burrell and his fellow co-founders donate 5% of their profits and £2 for every bottle purchased to support ground-level freedom and equality projects (the choice for 2021 was Anti-Slavery International – the oldest international human rights organisation in the world). The Spectator Magazine put it perfectly writing that this is a rum “hailed for its purist approach to rum making and its philanthropic aspirations.”
SKU No.: 3573201
Style No.: 854076
Alcohol by volume (ABV): 43%
Volume: 700ml
Probably the most important and critically acclaimed inaugural release from any rum company ever.
Equiano Original from the Equiano Rum Co. is the world’s first African and Caribbean rum and refreshingly it acknowledges how the history of this much-loved spirit is inextricably entangled with the slave trade. Launched just a few months before the murder of George Floyd sparked Black Lives Matter protests around the world Equiano is the rum that the industry desperately needed.
This journey of discovery starts in Africa at Gray’s Distillery in Mauritius with a rum that is aged in French Limousin oak and ex-Cognac casks for ten years. That rum is transported around the world to Barbados in the Caribbean where it is blended with younger rum created at Foursquare Distillery – the five-time consecutive winner of the International Spirits Challenge’s “Rum Producer of the Year”. The two components are married together by the extremely talented Richard Seale in ex-Bourbon casks resulting in a rum that is at least eight years old.
Super smooth Equiano Original has a natural sweetness flecked with delicious savoury notes. Expect cherry wood rooibos tea peel-heavy marmalade on buttered toast fruitcake maple syrup roasted peach vanilla ginger toffee and a finish of peppery spices with hints of mocha. This chestnut-coloured pure rum contains no colourants no spices no additives and no sugars and it has already been awarded gold medals by the International Spirits Challenge the San Francisco World Spirits Competition Concours Mondial Spirits Selection and the International Wine & Spirits Competition. And Stormzy is a big fan too.
The rum is named after Olaudah Equiano who was born in 1745 in what today is Nigeria. He was kidnapped enslaved and shipped across the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean. From there he was sent to Virginia where he was bought by a lieutenant in the Royal Navy who would eventually bring him to England. The tenacious and determined Equiano traded fruit glass tumblers and rum on the side until he had saved the £40 required to buy his freedom back. He settled in London becoming an educated and respected Georgian as well as a writer public speaker entrepreneur and a pioneering anti-slavery activist who fought to free enslaved people across the globe.
One of the Equiano Rum Co.’s co-founders is none other than the fedora-wearing Ian Burrell – the world’s only Global Rum Ambassador the founder of UK Rumfest the former owner of Cotton’s Caribbean restaurant in London and according to Difford’s Guide for Discerning Drinkers “the most entertaining guy you’ll ever meet”. Following in the footsteps of Olaudah Equiano Burrell and his fellow co-founders donate 5% of their profits and £2 for every bottle purchased to support ground-level freedom and equality projects (the choice for 2021 was Anti-Slavery International – the oldest international human rights organisation in the world). The Spectator Magazine put it perfectly writing that this is a rum “hailed for its purist approach to rum making and its philanthropic aspirations.”
SKU No.: 3573201
Style No.: 854076