The Alnwick Rum Company

Founded in 1914, The Alnwick Rum & Spirits Company has grown to become one of the country’s most acclaimed, niche rum companies. Starting off as a one product business with its uniquely blended “Legendary Dark Rum”, a favourite amongst sailors and fisherman in the Northeast, after being acquired by the Harry Hotspur Holdings group in 2013, the business started to expand into new levels.  

Now the proud owner of a full range of rums and liqueurs, Alnwick Rum consists of the original ‘Legendary’ dark rum supported by the exotic ‘Golden Spiced’ and a smoothly blended white sipping rum ‘White Knight’. 

As well as this, Alnwick Rum now produces the Holy Island Rum range consisting of the hugely popular and award worthy Holy Island Spiced Rum.  

In 2018 the business resurrected its 1950’s Glen Aln Whisky, a blend of fine scotch malt and grain whiskies and in 2021 released the now in-demand Lindisfarne Gin.

Proud to have such an iconic historical figure head in Sir Henry Percy as the focus point around new sophisticated branding. Famously he was known as ‘Harry Hotspur’ and Northumberland’s most lionhearted warrior whose family lived in Alnwick Castle.  

With the business never slowing down there are always lots of exciting opportunities and adventures in the pipeline including global exports and more new products.

Rum was discovered in the Caribbean in the 17th Century. It is made from molasses, a by-product of the sugar refining process of extracting sugar cane juice, which can be fermented into alcohol.

Often the fermentation is in copper pots. Globally it has become an extremely popular drink and there are now many flavours of rum available such as Dark, Golden, Spiced & White. Rum can also be found as the leading spirit in a range of rum-based liqueurs. The more traditional older drink is a dark rum  Using a range of aged rums in our production that are between 2 to 5 years aged in wooden sherry & oak barrels/casks. 

Of course, white rum is not aged in wood since it needs to preserve is clean finish, whereas ageing in wood for the other types of rum infuses the flavours from the barrel (typically made from sherry, or oak wood) that help to create the distinctive the woody/oaky taste of quality rums and helps create the smooth texture of the final product.