THE first official rum distillery in Scotland has sold the first nine bottles of its inaugural aged rum at auction for a total of £41,800.
Dark Matter Distillers was launched in 2015 and is based in Banchory, Aberdeenshire and its first nine bottles of aged rum were dubbed the Physicist Series, with each bottle named after a renowned physicist.
Bottle #1 "Einstein" achieved a final price of £13,000 at Rum Auctioneers biggest event to date last month with more than 1700 lots going under the hammer.
Perthshire-based Whisky Auctioneer set up the Rum Auctioneer platform to meet the growing popularity for enthusiasts to buy, sell, share and engage in rum, and now auctions an average of 800 to 900 bottles every month.
The nine bottles in the Physicist Series - which carry names of scientists including Marie Curie, Max Planck and Richard Feynman - all came from Dark Matter's Cask 001 which was filled on August 28, 2015.
The cask was a virgin American oak barrel with medium char and bottled at six years old, with no filtering, dilution, additives, sugar or colourings.
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The alcohol by volume (ABV) of the spirit increased from 63.5% - 66.3% during maturation, a phenomenon rarely witnessed in rum production but created under specific warehouse conditions.
Jim Ewen, managing director, Dark Matter Distillers, said: “It's a milestone moment for us to see our inaugural aged rum come to auction and we couldn't be happier with the results which went beyond our expectations.
"It is fantastic to see the international interest in what we are doing here in Scotland; the diversity in rum is incredible and it's an honour for our young distillery to have received such an enthusiastic reception from rum enthusiasts around the world.
"This is just the beginning of our journey and given the increasing interest in rum, we are very excited to see how Dark Matter grows in the coming years.”
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Joe Wilson, head of auction content at Rum Auctioneer, said: “As interest continues to grow around rum, new collectors and drinkers are increasingly entering the market. The idea of collectible rum is still a newer phenomenon than with whisky; however, this result is a testimony to the shift in attitude toward this fantastic and complex spirit.
"It was a pleasure for us to work with Dark Matter Distillers to present their inaugural aged rum at auction – a first for our platform which I’m sure is going to be a tough act to follow. The phenomenal result demonstrates the variety of rum that is now being viewed through a collector’s lens and is a promising insight into what the future may hold for the spirit.”
In December 2020, Rum Auctioneer became an international company by expanding and opening an office in Germany to both minimise the impact of Brexit and better serve their European community of rum lovers. Almost one year on from this announcement, roughly 75% of the lots featured in Rum Auctioneer’s monthly auctions are consigned to and shipped from their EU office.
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