Rum has been a particularly difficult item to source because most is made from molasses from sugar cane, which cannot be grown in the UK but Alkemy Distillery in Suffolk has a UK-produced rum that will be stocked at the Farmer’s Dog pub at Asthall, West Oxfordshire.
After several years of rum production overseas, brothers Will and Rob Tapster founded Alkemy Distillery in Suffolk in 2021, and have made a rum using molasses from locally grown sugar beet.
Alkemy said this results in a “truly British spirit” that differs in some ways from traditional rum. Co-founder Rob said: “Alkemy is made in the same way as rum, but by using sugar beet, we end up with a different flavour profile.
More approachable
“This means that the spirit has less of the more challenging flavours that you would associate with rum, and as a result, doesn’t have to have all the sugar added to make it drinkable. This makes the spirit more approachable while keeping hold of the enjoyable part of rum.”
Clarkson, who was the star of Amazon Prime series Clarkson’s Farm – which opened in 2024 – implemented the rule that the pub would serve only 100% British food and drink. This means some common pub items such as cola, coffee or ginger beer could not be served because they could not be sourced entirely from within the UK.
Clarkson stated: “If it’s not grown and reared in Britain, we’re not selling it, and that’s the end of it.”
Alkemy added: “This is the only rum to be made from 100% British ingredients. The Farmer’s dog has a rigorous procedure to verify the source of all ingredients. This rum was traced back to British sugar, who only harvests British sugar beet.”
35-mile journey
As to what the rum is mixed with, the distillery said: “It is currently on the menu served with apple juice, sparkling blackcurrant and [can be drunk] neat, like a whisky.”
On why rum has only just been introduced at the Farmer’s Dog, Alkemy said: “It has taken this long because no one has tried to make rum from sugar beet until now.”
The molasses for the spirit come directly from the British sugar factory in Bury St Edmunds and travel an average of just 35 miles from field to bottle, offering significant benefits over traditional rum.
“It’s not just about the environmental impact of travelling less distance”, Rob said, “it’s a new product that shines a light on local agriculture and promotes the importance of sourcing ingredients as locally as we can, in the most ethical way possible.
“We think that what Jeremy and the team at the Farmer’s Dog are doing is really important. It has made people ask a lot more questions about where some of their food actually comes from and how it is grown. There are a lot of positive things about agriculture in the UK, and I think we all agree that it could do with all the help that it can get.”
