A Lunenburg distillery is hoping some sea air will help its rum sail off store shelves.
Ironworks Distillery makes small-batch rum using only local ingredients. They also make it in the basement of a boat.
Co-founder Lynne MacKay says it’s a nod to pirate life, when rum was transported across the sea on voyages near and far.
“It's continuing the legacy, but it's also giving it kind of a modern twist,” MacKay says. “That's perhaps the most fun that we have at Ironworks.”
The 6,000 litres of rum from Ironworks Distillery floats in the waters of Lunenburg’s downtown. Co-founder Pierre Guevremont says that’s what makes it so good.
“Captains who transported barrels of rum around the world discovered that the rum was far better at the end of the journey than the beginning,” he said, “and that all they had to do with the time and the motion and the effect of the spirit against the oak wood in the barrel.”
But customers who want a taste don't have to paddle out to get it. The rum’s available to sample and purchase at their Lunenburg distillery.
“We put some very new rum in, hoping we won't be able to harvest that for another four or five years,” Guevremont says. “We've got some rum that was already in our cellar for two and a half to three years, and then some in between. So we'll have rum ready every year on an ongoing basis.”
Ironworks officially launched their rum boat last week, but they are already selling it at a few places around the province.
But don't expect to find them everywhere just yet. MacKay says the rich flavour and colour comes from their small batches.
“The sexiness of the scarcity is what it's all about. People have to come here to get this. And that's very special.”
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Emily Baron Cadloff.
