The Mamy Wata White Rum comes from a new company called Socially Spirited. Their aim is to provide easy to use ingredients for making drinks in the comfort of your home. They have visited multiple spirits producers for the past 18 months in order to create new and interesting bottlings – if you visit their website they have quite an array of products which are quite unique, but my plan is to have a look at their rum.
Mamy Wata is inspired by the legend of the river mermaid, a temptress who guards the waterways from southern Africa to the Caribbean and protects the rivers from those with harmful intentions. The rums from the blend are sourced from Jamaica and southern Africa, but unfortunately I don’t have any details on the distilleries – what I do know is that one of the South African rums are sourced from Eswatini. This is a blend of both molasses and cane juice distillates.
Mamy Wata White Rum is molasses and cane juice based, pot and column distilled and bottled at 40% ABV without any additives.
On the nose it feels savoury. Black olives brine, coriander, gherkins and some pickled onions. Cardamom, coconut water and grapefruit zest. It smells quite sharp a first, but after a little bit some fruits emerge. Raspberry jam, candied bananas and mango. Some white pepper and passion fruit as well.
On the palate the sharpness mellows down. Pineapple juice, black cardamom, black olives and coriander. Cane juice, fresh raspberries and a touch of bananas. It has a subtle mezcal-like medicinal smoke to it as well. Grapefruit juice, toffee and a carboard-y note. Pink pepper and coconut water. The finish is medium to long with vegetal and tropical flavours.
I’m actually pleasantly surprised, the savoury notes from the cane juice and the fruity, rounded flavours from the molasses really work well together. It’s complex, it has plenty of body, but I don’t think it would overpower a cocktail. I’m glad to have discovered this, it’s a pretty good, fairly inexpensive white rum that can hold its own.
You can get a bottle for £30 which is not bad at all, but thanks to the team at Socially Spirited you can use the RUMBARREL10 code a checkout for a 10% discount during this month – it applies to all their products, not just the rum.
Mamy Wata White Rum score:
Flavour/taste: 48/70
Value for money: 15/15
Transparency/purity: 15/15
Overall: 78/100
Cheers!