Dead Man’s Fingers: New rum in SA gatecrashes the gin party

It may be a little-known fact but rum has been mixing it up in many cocktails for centuries.

Gin may be the popular currently, a trend that seems to have no end and this has left other spirits on the back foot.

Remember rum? Cognac? Heck even brandy, yes all of those. These spirits haven’t had a trendy tag for some time in cocktails.

Gatecrashing the gin party, Dead Man’s Fingers (DMF) rum officially launched in South Africa last week at an event in Sin Tax, Parkwood, Johannesburg.

The UK export is now available locally in exclusive three pre-mixed cans – Cuba Libre, Rattlesnake and Dead Mule. The cans are flavoured mixed rums, an emerging marketing in the rum category.

This has been done successfully in the gin market, as flavoured gins have skyrocketed.

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DMF hopes to grow its current offering of spiced, ark and coconut options bottles. Think exotic flavours such as pineapple and coffee, which is set to launch in October. Mixologist and owner of Sin Tax, Julian Short, says dark rum works with a lot of flavours because it has been used and been around for so long.

“We have taken it for granted and we have moved on but we are moving back to it,” he said. Many people at home would wonder what would they do with a bottle of rum but Short says rum cocktails just need balance.

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“Even rum and tonic goes well including soda water.”

He adds that the type of rum you buy or have is important. If it is sweeter rum, use something with drying elements such as soda water or tonic water. The mixologist adds rum is a much more versatile spirit.

From the cocktail on offer during DMF’s launch, we were pleasantly surprised by how much variety there was. From the sweeter side, their pineapple rum-painkiller cocktail was flavoured with passionfruit, citrus and cinnamon. This was the winner of the night. It is quite balanced and the body complimented all the flavours.

The stronger side of the cocktails was the Death in Paradise and true to its name, it’s not for the weak. A mixture of DMF coconut rum, sour green apple, tonic water and mint – this drink is for going “all-out” nights.

As more alcoholic beverages try their hand in the booming era, it’s a reminder to not forget to try new things.