Coming up in today's video, we are going Barti Spiced, a cracking Spiced Rum. And I'm going to tell you all about it
Right then! Barti Spiced, this is such an exotic Spiced Rum. Well it's not a Spiced Rum, it's only 35% ABV. So, it's a Spiced Rum based spirit drink. Can't legally be called a Spiced Rum. But don't let that put you off. I say Barti is really exotic. I'm trying' to work out where it came from when I first found it, when I first heard about it. Do you want to know where it comes from? Wales. Yup. It is from Pembrokeshire in the West Coast of Wales! And that's where it comes from.
Buy Barti Spiced Rum online
Now the big influence in this Spiced Rum, I'm gonna call this Spiced Rum. I don't care. And the big influence in this Spiced Rum is Seaweed. That is it's point of difference. Yes, I did say that. Yes, you did hear that right. Its Seaweed that they gather up from the Pembrokeshire Coast. And the influence comes from their founder. A Chef called Jonathan who loves to forage and find stuff and then cook with it. Used to cook with Seaweed quite a lot. So, when you wanted to get involved in the whole Spiced Rum thing, it stood to reason that Seaweed was gonna form a big part of this. Now we've got a little marksman story on the back of the bottle, which hopefully should explain where the brand, Barti, comes from and what that's all about. So, I'm gonna read that now for you. And I do apologise, there's little bits in Welsh. Being Cornish, I should be able to speak a little bit of Celtic, but there's a few words in there that I might struggle with. But, we're gonna go for it. So, here we go.
Here's to you, John Roberts. So, not Jonathan, the Chef, but John Roberts. Remember that Here's to you John Roberts, Cymru, Wales, born and bred at sea, who caught in the gold-lust winds, chased old world tales and fantasies. Sweet music swirled around him as he swayed under the sun. Bathed in silk and Spanish gems, five hundred ship's he won. Is this a poem? This might rhyme, I'm really sorry. Might rhyme, don't know. Let's carry on. A merry life and a short one hid the, here we go, hid the hiraeth at his core, As the unforgiving waves took his poor soul to heavenly shores. Some say pirates were too savage, but these were savage times you see. So, here's to you John Roberts, Forever known as Barti Ddu. Now, I say Barti Ddu because it is D-D-U. However, I am reliably informed that Ddu is actually pronounced 'thee'. So, it should be 'Barti Thee'.
So, that's it the branding and the marketing story and the origins. What about the actual liquid inside? Well, this is another one that uses based Rum from Guyana. I don't know, I should have looked, whether it's Diamond Distillery in Guyana famous for El Dorado. I didn't look. But I just know the Rum is from Guyana. It's then brought back to the UK. Brought over to Wales where they will sort of flavour up, spice it up, with their secret blend of spices. I've got a few written down here that they've sent me and obviously the Seaweed. Now some of the spices that they use in this. We've got vanilla, we've got clove, and we've got cinnamon. And then we've got orange and lemon in there as well. The whole Seaweed, apparently. The Seaweed is supposed to lift the flavours. So, while you might not taste the Seaweed, in the actual Rum, what it's supposed to do is to elevate and bind all the flavours together.
So, what does it smell like?
Well, for me, it doesn't smell sweet at all. A lot of Spiced Rums, and I keep saying' this. And I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I know sweet doesn't really depict anything, but it doesn't smell as sweet as some of the Spiced Rums. Big nose I get on there is vanilla, but something tells me, it is not gonna be vanilla forward like your sort of Lambs, like your Old Jay's, like your Dead Man's Fingers. It's not gonna be heavily vanilla forward like that. I do also get a faintest whiff of citrus going on there. And you can tell there's other spice in there. I can't really pick out the spices on the nose. But it’s kind of vanilla, spice, a tiny bit of citrus. It does smell delicious.
What does it taste like?
I was right. It is not, it is not an overly sweet Spiced Rum at all. The big first taste that comes through is vanilla. Vanilla for me just explodes in there. But it is very well balanced with the spice that finish as soon as it hits the side of my mouth and starts going back down the throat. It is that very well-balanced spice. You can tell that it's all spice in there. A little bit of cinnamon. The cinnamon really bounces with the vanilla. And then there's sort of this citrus that just comes through. I know it sounds a little pretentious. I'm not meaning to. But that's literally what is happening in my mouth. That is super super gorgeous to drink. I really love that. I would quite happily drink that neat.
How to Drink Barti Spiced Rum.
What does it Mix with?
I got sent of their recommended serves on there. They're a big fans of ginger beer and apple juice and I can confirm that a whole apple works very well with that. And an apple with ginger works very well. However, I have got a big shock for me. Of what I thought was the best mixer to go with this. And I have no idea why it works. For me, this brand always, or this product I should say, always comes in mid, it's one of those things that's championed by Rum. But, for me it doesn't always work. My out and out favourite mixer with Barti Spiced was flipping' Ting grapefruit soda. I just thought that the combination of those two was delicious. I say, massive surprise to me. I thought that was gonna be a coke and coke Spiced Rum through and through. And it does, I'll come onto that in a minute. But, my number one pick with that was actually Ting. Really really surprised me. Ting's a grapefruit soda. Very very good drink. Barti and Ting. That's my number one serve. Now my number two serve, obviously this was gonna work. This was gonna work very very well. Is Coca Cola. This is Coke Zero. And with that, you are just gonna love that. It's such a simple Spiced Rum and coke. My third pick was ginger beer. Absolutely love that. And just a side note, there's a mention a minute ago. The whole ginger beer and pressed apple juice. I've left it over there. It's really annoying, right out of camera shot. I've got Copella at the moment. Copella pressed apple juice. Sort of half and half mix of those, delicious. But that's my third pick, Ginger Beer. But if you love your apple and ginger as well, you could, should've tried it. I've got a carton there as well. Cawston Press Apple and Ginger Juice. That would have been lovely. I should have tried it. But the whole ginger thing, that is my third choice with Barti. And then my fourth choice is Fentimans Tropical Soda. Pineapple, cardamom, little tiny hints of juniper, pear extract, delicious. Really works there. Not overly sweet at all. I'm gonna say Ting, even though it's grapefruit and a little bit sour or a little bit bitter, it's still not as sweet as that. Just works lovely. And interestingly, a got to mention it at the same time, I thought it was hands, even though I mentioned ginger, hands down better than Fever-Tree orange ginger ale. For me, that just didn't work at all. Those two together. That might have just been me. I don't know. Looking' in my notes, that was the first one I tried with that. And then I went ginger beer afterwards and then Coke. And for me, that just didn't work.
Cocktails
I'm gonna finish the videos there. Now, but I am also gonna do a few cocktails. But, how I'm gonna do them, I'm gonna keep them short and sweet. I'm gonna post those to my Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/stevethebarman
which will go straight to Facebook as well. But, my Instagram stories. And it'll be four pictures. So, a picture of the cocktail, a picture of the recipe. Some fancy sparkly stuff and then because I'm absolutely rubbish at naming cocktails, I'm gonna ask you guys to name each cocktail.