A British craft rum brand that rose from the ashes of a barn fire on the family farm has secured a listing with trade marketplace The Great British Exchange, which specialises in sourcing up and coming British brands for retail and hospitality.
Burning Barn rum, which is based in Eastcote, near Solihull in the West Middlands, has stepped up production of its handcrafted spiced and smoked dark rums since being stocked as part of The GBE’s speciality alcohol range for retailers.
Managing director Katherine Jenner said: “UK sales have grown steadily month on month and we have now produced our fourth batch.
“We are proud to be bringing true craft flavours and innovation to flavoured rums and making sure run drinkers don’t have to compromise on craft options,” she added.
Burning Barn’s hero product is its smoked rum, which is made using apple wood harvested from the farm’s old orchards. The spiced rum is made by infusing hand roasted vanilla, coconut, all spice, ginger and chilli. Flavouring, filtering and bottling is all done by Katherine and co-founder Harry on the farm.
The brand takes its name from an incident on the farm in 2015 which devastated Katherine’s father-in-law’s toffee apple business.
“Having worked hard for years diversifying his fruit farm into a profitable food production business he lost everything in a barn fire and had to rebuild it from scratch,” recalled Katherine.
His determination to rebuild inspired her to start her own business and she looked into rum after noticing a growing trend for dark spirits and dark craft beers in the US.
“The gin boom was – and still is –in full swing in the UK but we could see an opportunity to bring something completely different to the market,” said Katherine.
As well as being available to retailers through The Great British Exchange, stockists include Harvey Nichols, Not on the High Street, The Whisky Exchange and the Westmorland Family farm shop service stations in Tebay and Gloucester.
