The Kakira rums have recently arrived on the UK market and I’ve been given the opportunity to review the full range which consists of 3 expressions: Kakira Silver 5 Year Old, Kakira Gold 7 Year Old and Kakira Dark 5 Year Old.
The Kakira rums are made by Kakira Spirits which was started on the Kakira Sugar Estate, established in 1930 by the Madhvani Family. Kakira is actually a town located in the Eastern Region of Uganda in the Jinja District and the estate is located on the northern shore of Lake Victoria, 50 kilometres north of Ecuador.
The Kakira estate is around 45,000 acres big with most of the sugar cane used for the sugar production being grown by them and the rest being outsourced from other farms in the area – thus providing jobs to around 150,000 local farmers. The estate has three major cane varieties planted, namely CO421 (Coimbatore, India origin), CO945 (Coimbatore, India origin) and R585 (Mauritius origin). Their sugar mill runs for about 11.5 months from mid May to the end of April the following year and it crushes a total of 2,200,000 tons of cane to produce around 180,000 tons of sugar annually,
They also engage in sustainable practices. After the cane is pressed, the leftovers are used to power the electrical plant on the farm and then redistributed into the fields for nutrient addition to the sugar cane. The total amount of electricity produced powers the entire farm and the nearby cities of Kampala and Entebbe, reaching over 3.5 million people. After the molasses has been fermented and distilled, the stillage is then put into bio-fermentation tanks where the gas created is collected and used to power the column stills – which are used to make neutral alcohol for their gin and vodka.
Regarding rum production, Kakira Distillery uses the molasses resulted from their sugar production as the raw material which is fermented between for 36-38 hours at between 32.5 and 33.5 degrees Celsius using brewer’s yeast. They batch distill using a 7000 litre Kothe hybrid pot still, although the batches are limited to 5000 litres.
For the ageing process Kakira uses an interesting solera system – fresh distillate goes into a Bourbon barrel solera (ex-Heaven Hills and Buffalo Trace) and a Sherry barrel solera (ex-Fino, Amontillado, Oloroso). They also make use of some Pedro Ximenez casks. The ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry soleras are then blended together depending on the expression and all the casks are kept in their barrel room on the Equator.
Their rums are bottled at Kakira and they use water from a private feed from Lake Victoria at the source of the river Nile to cut them. Now let’s try them out!
Kakira Silver 5 Year Old
Kakira Silver is their white rum and the most refreshing of the range.
It was aged for 5 years in a combination of 94% ex-Bourbon casks, 6% ex-Sherry casks and then it was charcoal filtered three times in order to remove its colour and mellow it down.
Kakira Silver 5 Year Old is molasses based, batch distilled, aged for at least 5 years in ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry barrels and filtered to remove most of the colour. Bottled at 40% ABV without any additives.
On the nose it smells very fresh. Peppermint and Chamomile tea, cardamom, floral honey and unripe stone fruits. Green bananas, juniper and a hint of anise. It has quite a peculiar profile, reminds me a little bit of the Distinct rums. Pistachios, feijoa and some toffee. Freshly printed paper, white pepper and green apples.
On the palate the profile is quite similar. Mints galore, feijoa, vanilla and some anise. Unripe bananas, Chamomile tea and a touch of cardamom. Very peppermint-y upfront. Green apples, unripe plums and a hint of blueberries. Guava, almonds and subtle tobacco as well. The finish is short to medium with peppermint and unripe stone fruits.
An unique rum with a very interesting profile and a well balanced body. Peppermint would be the hashtag of this and I don’t hate it at all – would make for a very interesting Daiquri.
It’s priced at around £34 which I think it’s a good price for the uniqueness of the rum you’re getting.
Kakira Silver 5 Year Old score:
Flavour/taste: 52/70
Value for money: 15/15
Transparency/purity: 15/15
Overall: 82/100
Kakira Gold 7 Year Old
Kakira Gold is actually the oldest in the range and the most versatile in my opinion.
It was aged for 7 years in a combination of 60% ex-Sherry casks, 34% ex-Bourbon casks and 6% former PX casks.
Kakira Gold 7 Year Old is molasses based, batch distilled and aged for at least 7 years in ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry barrels. Bottled at 43% ABV without any additives.
On the nose it feels more warming than the Silver. Stone fruits, mothballs, plums, dried figs and liquorice. Raisins, cloves and some ginger ale. The ageing seemed to have mellowed it down and has given it some nice, warming spices. Sour cherries, caramel and dark chocolate. Rich tobacco, burnt orange peel and a touch of cinnamon.
On the palate it seems more whisky-ish. Bourbon biscuits, stone fruits, sour cherries and dried figs. Rich honey, tobacco and raisins. It actually reminds me of a pot still heavy Barbadian rum. Walnuts, smoked almonds and some caramel. Blackberries, raw cacao nibs and cloves. Ginger biscuits and Earl Grey tea. The finish is long with oak spices and nuts.
A great 7 year old that’s as easy to sip as it is to mix. It’s pretty full bodied and layered and the casks really complemented the distillate. Would be interested to try it in an Old Fashiolned with maple syrup.
You can find this one for £38, which is a tad more expensive than the Silver, but in the same time I would happily get one to simply sip.
Kakira Gold 7 Year Old score:
Flavour/taste: 54/70
Value for money: 15/15
Transparency/purity: 15/15
Overall: 84/100
Kakira Dark 5 Year Old
Kakira Dark is actually younger than the Gold, but it does have caramel added in order to enhance its colour.
It was aged for 5 years in a combination of 45% ex-Bourbon casks, 40% ex-Sherry casks and 15% former PX casks.
Kakira Dark 5 Year Old is molasses based, batch distilled and aged for at least 5 years in ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry barrels. Bottled at 40% ABV with some sugar and caramel added.
On the nose it reminds me a little of Navy style rums. Caramel, mints, Black and Peppermint tea. Anise, ripe bananas and toasted walnuts. The caramel and peppermint are the main flavours here. After Eights, plums and raisins. Black pepper, cloves and biscuits.
On the palate it’s a little milder than the previous two. Earl Grey tea galore, caramel, cardamom and muscovado sugar. Canned plums, toasted biscuits and maple syrup. It isn’t too sweet, but it’s noticeable. Walnuts with hints of oregano and some minerality. The finish is medium with spicy Earl Grey tea and some medicinal notes.
Not a bad one, it feels quite similar to the Earl Grey Tea Rum I designed for a competition last year. It is enjoyable and it would make for a great rum and cola, but compared to the other two, it isn’t as complex.
This is priced the same as the Silver at £34 which is still pretty good. While objectively I prefer the Silver, I do think it has its place in the range and can be used as a tasty spirit and mixer or even as an easy sipper.
Kakira Dark 5 Year Old score:
Flavour/taste: 50/70
Value for money: 15/15
Transparency/purity: 15/15
Overall: 80/100
As expected, my highlight of the range is the Kakira Gold 7 Year Old – unique profile, very versatile, fairly complex and it doesn’t break the bank.
I don’t get the chance to sample rums from East Africa every day, even less so a whole range, but I’m very pleasantly surprised. All of the rums have depth, layers and their unique notes are sure to put Uganda on the rum map very soon. I’ll definitely keep an eye on them!
Cheers!
We recently also produced a spiced rum, which I hope you can soon try!
Oh, interesting!