A good spiced rum is hard to find in the main high street players (Chairman’s Reserve at Waitrose excluded) so I decided to make my own!

I did a bit of quick research and it was generally recommended to use a golden rum as the base as its natural notes work best with spices. By chance, a nice golden was on offer in Tesco and after stocking up on a few of the lesser-used spices I thought about my combinations. Recipes online weren’t afraid to pile in the variety so I followed suit with an 8-spice blend:

Half a cinnamon stick, 2 allspice berries, a chunk of root ginger, a chunk of nutmeg, a clove, half a star anise, a shaving of orange peel (no pith as this gives a more bitter taste) and a third of vanilla pod. I took an early taste after 1 night of infusing and it was already starting to come through so I’m looking forward to more developed flavours this weekend.

We also dabbled with a simpler ingredient mix – honey, cinnamon and vanilla, which in fact hasn’t added too much sweetness.