Black Tot Day 2020 - 50th Anniversary !!!

 

Black Tot Day was 31 July 1970, which is exactly 50 years ago today.
Elexir Distillers, the producer of Black Tot Rum, wants to celebrate this occasion with a 24h virtual Rum festival. Let's join the party !!!

Black tot Day was the day the British Navy were served the last of their famous rum rations. In 1970 it was voted in the UK Parliament to stop the rum ration given fears surrounding the more complex technology in operation across the Navy.

The remaining flagons of rum were stored for special occasions like the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Some flagons found their way to former officers and private collectors. Over the course of several years, Elixir Distillers co-founder Sukhinder Singh tracked down and purchased these last remaining flagons, and blended them together to create his ‘Black Tot Last Consignment’.

From that same distiller we received a bottle of “Finest Caribbean Black tot Rum”, so we could also raise our glass for this celebration. This rum is also inspired by the story of Navy rum and its pioneers of blending. This is a blend of some of the world’s finest rums, bottled without anything added or taken away. Bringing together the rich flavour profiles of Barbados, Guyana and Jamaica, this is a rum with tropical, coffee and chocolate notes.

For my first drink, I keep it simple because I imagine they didn’t have a lot of ingredients available on the ships in those days. For a second drink, I make my own variation on the official 50th anniversary cocktail. In total I’m giving you no less than three ideas to join the celebration.

Black Tot Old Fashioned

Ingredients
50 ml Black Tot Rum Finest Caribbean
10 ml Falernum (I used World’s End Falernum, available in your local liqueur store)
10 ml Cane sugar syrup
1 dash of Angostura bitters

Method
Add everything to a shaker with ice. Shake for 15 seconds and dirty dump into your highball glass. Add some more ice and a sprig of mint. Mine had mint flowers, which look incredibly sexy on the pic.
 
Want something more interesting and complex ?

BLACK TOT DAY - 50TH ANNIVERSARY COCKTAIL

Ingredients
50 ml Black Tot Rum Finest Caribbean
50 ml Pineapple juice
10 ml Yellow Chartreuse
10 ml Fresh Lime Juice
5 ml Simple syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Ginger Ale

Method
Pour ingredients (except the Ginger-Ale) together in a shaker with enough ice. Shake hard and double strain in your pre-chilled highball glass, with some nice shards of ice in it. Top with just a little splash of good quality ginger ale. Garnish with mint and lime.

But…

Even when you’re not really into rum cocktails, you should really try this rum neat or with a cube of ice.

Why not pair it with a delicious dessert with pineapple and fresh fruits, some ice-cream and… hey, you only live once… top it with some whipped cream and a cocktail cherry.

Disclaimer : All pictures and texts are copyrighted by Geert Conard and Esito Management & Communications unless stated otherwise in the article. While some items might have been gifted by the producer or distributor, these are in no way paid promotions or recommendations. For this article parts of the text was supplied by the producer of the base spirit.