- Coming up in this video,
I'm gonna be talking to you about Dark Matter.
However, if you don't like ginger,
if you don't like big, peppery, bold flavours, click away.
Do not stay tuned to this video
'cause, oh boy, this is something different.
But if you do like Dark Matter,
if you wanna know a bit more about it
and what to mix it with, then please stay tuned
because it's review, what you can mix it with,
highball serves are coming right up after this.
(ice shaking)
Hey, Spiced Rum fans, I am Steve the Barman.
And I'm hoping these videos will help you drink, serve,
and enjoy better quality Spiced Rum drinks.
That is what I'm all about.
If you are loving these videos,
if you haven't done so already, and even if you have,
drop me a comment in the boxes below.
I wanna know from you, I want you to say hello,
I want you to tell me what your favourite Spiced Rums are,
I want you to tell me what your favourite mixers are.
And talking about getting involved.
There is a Spiced Rum community now on Facebook,
a Facebook group, it is not my group.
I've kind of got involved, kind of joined it.
It's still small, it's still growing at this moment in time.
About a couple of hundred members.
But it's The Spiced Rum Club.
Two ways of finding it,
if you go onto Facebook just search Spiced Rum Club.
You should find it pretty easily.
Or if you're just going into your web browser,
type stblive.uk/spicedrumclub
That will take you straight there.
They'll be links in the show notes as well.
Come and join us.
Right then, Dark Matter.
Guys, Dark Matter Distillery.
(clapping)
Wow, wow, wow, wow.
This, I don't really get too pretentious on these reviews,
I don't really go into too many details
and things like that, I don't really care about ABVs.
However, when you tick every single box
that I absolutely love, you deserve a (clapping).
So if you don't know too much about Dark Matter,
let me give you a couple of little quick details.
They are a Scottish distillery.
And if you didn't cotton on the importance of that word,
distillery, then let me spell it out for you.
They do not import Rums from the Caribbean,
they distil it themselves up in Scotland from scratch.
Now this is a 40% proper, proper Spiced Rum.
It's been in Tescos now for two, three years or so.
They take their Rum that they distil
and then they infuse it with fresh ginger,
fresh pepper, proper green peppercorns,
and then allspice berries.
There are no flavour compounds, there are no syrups.
Yes, I can taste the little bit of sugar on there,
but your Spiced Rums need a bit of sugar.
It is just fresh, proper, out-and-out ingredients.
Now, as you can see from the label, it's pretty basic.
There's no marketing hype around this, no funny stories.
But I just wanna read you that little bit
what they've put on the label here.
So, we've got, it's kind of like
one of those periodic table thing malarkey.
You get things going on there,
you can kind of see little atoms or whatnots on there.
But I just wanna, just wanna read you this.
Because they've got molecular engineering
origins in Scotland.
But then they've got their logic,
and I love this so I'm gonna read you this.
Our curiosity drives us while the science inspires us.
Combining knowledge and imagination,
we obsessively pursue flavour through systematic study,
observation, and experiment.
And just while I'm here,
while I've got the bottle turned round,
I'll just tell you what those little awards are there.
So 2016, the Rum Masters Spirit Business Gold.
2017, The Rum and Cachaca Masters Spirits Business Gold.
(inhales)
(chuckles)
Sorry, I'm laughing, but what does it smell like?
If you'd just given me a lump of ginger
and put it to my nose, that is what that smells like.
It smells proper ginger.
No sort of syrupy compounds or anything like that,
or ginger cordials or anything.
Just proper, out-and-out ginger.
But coming off the back of it is just that
little, subtle hint of the peppery spice in there.
Right, what does this, wow (coughs).
That's doing it a bit of a disservice.
I wasn't kind of expecting that,
but what does it taste like?
Right, as you can probably guess,
it's like I've eaten a little bit of ginger
with a little bit of sweetness to it, wow.
That is stunning, feisty ginger coming through there.
Feisty pepper sort of spices coming up the rear.
Little bit of sweetness on it too.
It's just so different to anything I've tasted.
Now if I had a cold, or it was a really bitterly cold day,
lovely hot toddy, yeah.
Hot toddy, bit of warm water, bit of lemon juice,
maybe a bit of honey in there.
Wow, that is gonna be lovely.
This time of year that is a lovely, lovely sipper.
With a cube of ice, obviously,
just to sort of mellow it out slightly.
Which brings me onto the long-mix drinks.
How are you going to drink this?
Now, I did see a few reviews and things online,
'cause I like to do a little bit of research if I can.
I don't take too much notice of it.
But, three people I found on various different websites
said that that didn't work with Coke, at all.
You're a liar.
Because that, for me, works very, very well with Coke.
Yes, there is a lot of feistiness, a lot of ginger in there.
Just don't be put off by other people
telling you that it doesn't, it does work.
And then we come onto the ginger beer
because actually, for me,
that ginger beer dials it down very, very slightly.
Yes, you've got ginger on ginger but it does dial it down,
mellows it out, and just makes this exquisite, for me,
going forward, that might be my ultimate Dark and Stormy.
That, ginger beer, couple of wedges of lime.
I'm not overly convinced on the bitters.
I'm gonna be hard-pushed to find a better Dark and Stormy.
Dark and Stormy's Rum, ginger beer.
I don't think it'll happen.
I think that is the pinnacle of the Dark and Stormy.
Couple of no-gos though that I will kind of say.
I don't think that they work.
I think, I'll be honest,
I think that is too much for them to handle.
I don't think they are mature enough to handle that.
That's just big, bold, come and play in my playground
as opposed to let's work together.
I dunno.
If you try them, let me know what you think, honestly.
If you've got bottles of that at home, and you've got that,
try it, in the comments and let me know, genuinely,
because I dunno whether it's just me
or whether they don't work at all.
The Spiced ginger ale, the tropical soda.
I wanna know your opinions on that.
However, in complete contrast,
this was a big resounding yes.
Purely because I think it has a little bit more sweetness
than the tropical soda, than that.
I think that is what kind of helped
to balance out the sort of feisty gingerness.
Pineapple and ginger does work very, very well together.
I think those two, a long mixed drink.
I'm championing this, I'm really getting behind this now.
I've done a few Rums in a row
where this has just come into its own.
Really, really like that combo.
But my final long mixed drink to champion is this.
I've now mentioned this in probably
two of the last four videos, if not three of the last four.
Really, really love this.
And do you know how much I love this?
I'm actually gonna have some now.
Because this is just (exhales).
This is Cawston Press apple and ginger juice.
I really like the fact it's not fizzy,
so apple juice and ginger beer together.
Just a completely different dimension.
I'm just gonna finish this.
It's just...
I said earlier that that is the pinnacle
for the Dark and Stormy.
However, I'm crap at naming cocktails.
I think there's a case for that
to get involved in the action.
Because that with that, apple juice, ginger, oh wow.
Ah, Jesus, such...
I don't even think you even need a wedge of lime with that.
I think that is as good as it gets.
