We were lucky to be sent a care package for a new rum launch – Copalli Rum. It’s organic, single estate from Belize and there’s a nice video on their website to introduce their way of doing things.

The background: The Copal Tree Distillery is part of a farm estate in Punta Gorda, southern Belize. They grow three main crops organically: sugar cane, cocoa and coffee. Their ethos is on the locality, from the produce to the labour, leading to the next trio of ingredients in their rum: sugar cane, yeast, and water from the rainforest canopy to dilute down. Their focus on ‘clean’ products also gives way to their #WhatsInYourRum drive. All good so far.

So what about the rum: The rum we got to try is their white expression, bottled at 42%. It’s made with fresh sugar cane juice, agricole style and has the telling sweet sugarcane notes on the nose. Production-wise, it’s 25% pot still and 75% column still and even with a quarter pot still component it comes across as quite light. We couldn’t find this information on the website though, it was something we came across in an interview on Forbes so that would be a useful addition to add to the Copalli back story. After distillation it has six months resting in stainless steel to meld the flavours, again, much in the agricole style.

In the mouth there’s also the distinct grassiness of the agricole style, a slight citrus note and even a bit of aniseed. The large column-still element dominates the mouthfeel with a smoothness and lightness that brings it back to a style more typical of its Central American location. We couldn’t help thinking we’d love to try it at a higher abv to get a bit more bite, but that’s just how our palates have adapted.

The clear positioning of Copalli Rum is to be easily approachable and mixable. There’s some tempting cocktail recipes on the official website that we’ll certainly be trying (passion fruit and cinnamon syrup in a signature Ducky’s daiquiri anyone?). Initially we stuck with a classic mojito and daiquiri, though. Both worked well, although the daiquiri was probably slightly better as a serve for this rum for us.

Overall, an easy mixing rum with a couple of strong selling points around its organic status and the canopy rainwater USP. It’s a good contender for any cocktails that call for a light white style and, consequently, puts itself in a good position for the bars and mass market.