J. Gow Rum is named after infamous 18th century pirate John Gow. The distillery sits on the tiny island of Lamb Holm, one of the 70 islands that make up Orkney. It is an uninhabited island, only 0.15 square miles across and is connected to mainland Orkney by the Churchill barriers. It may well be one of the smallest rum producing islands in the world.

Head distiller Collin Van Schayk, returned to Orkney from Edinburgh to re-join the family business, the Orkney Wine Company. After working for the company for several years he secured half of the premises, installed a 2000-litre still and started making rum in 2017.

All of J. Gow’s rums are made entirely from scratch in Orkney, from start to finish. Producing a range of rum styles focusing on heavier, more full bodied rums, they use various fermentation techniques and are always experimenting to perfect their spirit. The distillery has a mixture of chestnut, virgin oak, bourbon, red wine, port, whisky and sherry casks and they are experimenting with a variety of yeast strains including some native wild yeasts.

The distillery’s first release J. Gow Spiced Rum was released in October 2017. It’s a dry spiced rum that has 7 different whole spices - 2 of which are grown in Orkney and kept a secret. The second release in November 2018 was Fading Light, their first cask-aged rum matured in chestnut casks for a minimum of 2 years. It’s a pure single rum with no added sugar or colouring. Chestnut was chosen for being more porous, pairing perfectly with Orkney’s cold climate. Oak has an angels share of around 1% in Orkney while chestnut is around 9% meaning you get a slightly faster maturation.

In October 2020 they released their first single cask/cask strength rum Hidden Depths Vol. 1 - aged 3 years and bottled at 53.2%, which sold out in under two weeks.

Revenge, launched in April 2021, is their 3-year-old pure single Scottish rum aged in ex-bourbon and virgin oak casks. A rich and deeply flavoured rum with no added sugar, artificial flavours or colourings; light funk, acidic fruit and caramel on the nose and stone fruit, spice and toffee on the palate with over ripe peaches on the finish. J. Gow’s most recent general release an un-aged pure single rum, Culverin.

The distillery is just two years away from releasing its first 8 year old rum.

Distilling for 6 years, J. Gow is one of Scotland’s older rum producers and will be showcasing its award-winning Scottish island rums at The Scottish Rum Festival.

Website | jgowrum.com

Facebook | fb.com/J.GowRum

Instagram | @j.gowrum

Twitter | @JGowRum