Scotland’s largest collection of rum has arrived in Edinburgh. Richard Bath heads along to try out the city’s latest hot spot.
I love rum, adore the stuff. So when I heard that there is a new rum bar in town I had to go.
Ruma is a clearly a passion project run by a group of twentysomething friends with a love of the sugary stuff. The ground-floor bar is towards the top of Broughton Street on the eastern fringe of Edinburgh’s New Town and is an open space with low tables and a utilitarian function-over-fripperies vibe when it comes to the décor.
There’s an impressive catalogue of rums to be had if that’s your thing, but when we were there virtually all of the business concerned a menu of ten rather extraordinary rum-based cocktails. A list of some of the ingredients gives a flavour of proceedings: El Presidente (Ninefold Pure Single Rum, Pineapple Skin Dry Vermouth, Velentian Vermouth, Lucky Orange and Strawberry Grenadine), Pineapple & Fig Old Fashioned (Doorly XO, pineapple & fig syrup, black truffle bitters) and Saturn (Porters Traditional Old Tom Rum, aged white rum, passionfruit, almond and lemon).
We opted for two of the more restrained versions. The first was the Dominicana, which contained Brugal 1888 Doblemente Anejado rum, Crossbrew coffee liqueur and whipped oat cream, and had dark, rich undertones, with a velveteen texture. The Madinina – which contained Clement Blanc Rhum Agricole, Clement Creole Shrubb Liqueur d’Orange, toasted coconut, lime and ginger ale – which was certainly not lacking in flavour but too acidic for my tastes.
Pleasingly the cocktails are not going to break the bank – five of the ten are £10, and the most expensive is £12.
Ruma, 39-41 Broughton St, Edinburgh EH1 3JU; ruma.bar
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