New Planteray Rum drop - Mister Fogg Navy Rum - Sail N°2

Our love for Planteray rums is well known, we have stocked them, forever at Milk, devoured their single barrel expressions, hosted many a boozy tasting and their core range is, well, our core range too. They feel like family at Milk. (Planeteray 5yr Barbados is the go-to shot for all of Reading's bartenders, so it must be good)  

So when a new arrival comes into our family, it’s a very auspicious occasion, and we are all over it, like a honey badger with a thirst on. 

Planteray Mister Fogg Navy Rum - Sail N°2 is the new baby in question. The 2nd Navy style rum from the house of Ferrand.  I initially speculated somewhat naively that it was named after Coogan played, fictional global adventurer, and one-time premium crisp manufacturer Phileas Fogg, but the truth is much more of a homage than that, and a wonderful nod from some of the biggest rum nerds in the world. Michael Fogg is the mister, a real-life Royal Navy rum broker and Navy rum historian who was the last employee in the rum department for ED&F Man, the Navy’s official rum supplier.  This is all you really need to know, that Mister Foggs is the real deal.

Already racking up the awards, including Rum of the year and the coveted Bartenders Brands award, the bottle comes in Planterays signature magnificent livery (I know you shouldn’t judge a book/rum by it cover, but Planteray really have got this down to a tee). Mister Foggs is a limited batch edition, meaning that every subsequent batch will be subtly different, just like the OG Navy rum. This is evident from the ageing process Planteray have adopted for this particular elixir.

If you didn’t know, Planteray is actually the golden child of another mother. The mother is the house of Maison Ferrand.  A fine Cognac house ran by visionary distiller/blender Alexandre Gabriel. This is where Planterays USP lies.  As you probably know, rum (and most aged spirits) is aged in ex-Bourbon barrels (Bourbon must be aged in virgin oak to be called Bourbon, hence a lot of spare barrels – approx 4 million per year!)  What Planteray then does is, after ageing in Bourbon, the liquid is transferred into ex-Cognac barrels, which gives the liquid the French (oak) touch. The brandy-soaked wood imparts nuanced stone fruit and dried fruit profiles, it rounds the flavours and creates a refined, complex and beautifully smooth juice.   

Mister Fogg goes one step further still.

“Upon arrival in the Cognac region, the blend undergoes double ageing in used oak barrels and extensive oxygenation in large, open wooden vats in cellars next to the river L’Antenne, replicating the humid environment of the Naval docks in London, enhancing maturation.”

This is crazy – why? By oxygenating in open vats, you will lose huge amounts through evaporation – or the “angels' share” as it is known in the business. This process concentrates the liquid and lets it take on more of the flavour of the wood, which is the payoff. The downside to this is you lose a lot of the physical liquid itself, meaning it’s costly cash-wise. They do this for up to 3 years! Nuts and brilliant in equal terms.

Like all Navy style rums, it’s a blend of different origin spirits, all of which were British colonies at the time and deeply embedded in the hugely profitable and immensely dark production of sugar.  The blend breaks down like this:

35% Trinidad: Trinidad Distillers, limited

34% Barbados: different vintages from West Indies Rum Distillery

20% Guyana: Diamond Distillery

6% Mauritius: Cane Juice rum from the St Aubin Distillery

5% Jamaica: Blend from Clarendon Distillers, Long Pond Distillery, and Hampden Distillery

Like all Navy rums, it is a healthy gun-powder proof 55.7% ABV.  Navy rums originate from…. the British Navy. Beginning in 1655, every sailor had a daily ration of rum – initially one pint, then strangely this was brought down over time, I can’t imagine why!  The Navy stopped the ration on July 31^st 1970 - Black Tot day, something to do with nuclear weapons and rum being a potentially risky combo. The gunpowder proof term comes from a test the sailors would do to check they were not being shortchanged by the ship's purser (the name given to the chap in charge of the ship's supplies). Rum was poured onto gunpowder, and if the powder still ignited, it was deemed “gunpowder proof”.  

How does it taste? On the nose, it hits straight away, ethanol, dried fruits, with a hint of tobacco and rubber. In the mouth, more dried fruit, orange peel, and chocolate profiles with caramel and vanilla, warm spice and a long, lingering finish. It’s a neat sipper for sure. Let it breathe a bit, and the flavour deepens. It works really well with a squeeze of lime. I did this as a sort of pastiche to the Navy and my own imagined scurvy (I eat my fruit and vegetables and don’t have scurvy)  

It works superbly in a Mai Tai, or Painkiller, and makes for a fighty Old Fashioned. Overall, Mister Fogg is a very welcome addition to the Milk back bar and the rest of our Planetary collection.

Available now £5.77 25ml or £10 50ml.

I should probably mention that throughout May we are running a special Planteray cocktail menu as part of Tropical Week, so pop down and imbibe with us!

Cheers!

Tim Hooper