Sustainability and waste reduction are an important topic in the world, and despite the fact that I’m not particularly efficient myself when it comes to wastage, I am aware that are brands and companies in the beverage industry that are doing their best to not harm the environment. One of these companies are Discarded Spirits Co. who, as the name suggests, are using produce that would otherwise be thrown away in order to craft their bottlings.
Once Wasted.
Now Treasured.
That’s the company motto for Discarded Spirits Co. and if you have a look at their website and product list you’ll see they are not playing around – worth mentioning they also use 100% recyclable packaging. One of their offerings, and probably their most popular, the Banana Peel Rum, is the subject of my review today.
The Discarded Banana Peel Rum uses a blend of rums from the Caribbean that are used to season oak casks meant for finishing single malt whiskies. Given that Discarded Spirits is owned by William Grant & Sons who also have the Balvenie and Glenffidich brands under their umbrella, one could assume the rum comes from seasoning the casks used for Balvenie Caribbean Cask and Glenfiddich Fire & Cane.
The said rum is infused for 2 weeks using banana peels – no, not the whole fruit, just the leftovers coming from a flavour house that has no use for the peels. That’s a good way of repurposing waste, now let’s see how the spirit fares in my glass.
Molasses based, most likely a pot and column blend and aged for an unspecified amount of time in whisky casks. Bottled at 37.5% ABV and infused with banana peels – very likely with sugar and caramel added.
On the nose… well let’s see how many “it tastes like banana” variances I can come out with. Banana foams, ripe bananas, banana bread and banana flambe. Caramel, brown sugar, almonds and saffron. Guinness, bubblegum and a touch of a mineral note.
On the palate fortunately it doesn’t get too sweet. Overripe bananas, banoffee pie and… interestingly… speyside whisky. Demerara sugar, candied bananas and a touch of anise. Some strawberries and maple syrup. The finish is short to medium with bananas and a hint of whisky smoke.
I do try and avoid flavoured rums, but this is actually really nice. It reminds me of Tempus Fugit Creme De Banane, just less sweet, (if you know, you know) and that’s quite the guilty pleasure for me. Just 2 minor complaints from me:
- It tastes more like a whisky than a rum, but then I can almost definitely feel some sort of Jamaican funk playing around too;
- One of my pet peeves in the spirits industry is bottling under 40% ABV and while I get why it would be just 37.5% ABV, I wish it was bumped up.
Otherwise it’s a great banana flavoured product, one of the best on the market – not to forget, very sustainable too! Definitely worth the £28 (Master of Malt) price tag.
Discarded Banana Peel Rum score:
Flavour/taste: 48/70
Value for money: 15/15
Transparency/purity: 13/15
Overall: 76/100
Cheers!
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