Siddiqui Brown Rum is distinctive and some people may enjoy this profile. However, I would expect this to be largely people not to familiar with rum. As a mixer its not going to win any awards from me either. Mixed with cola and ginger beer it just gives a smoky flavour and little else. Maybe a touch of wood. It just turns your cola into a smoky woody cola.

Although it's produced by Penderyn, it's the brainchild of guys who lived in Saudi and drank the real deal growing up. It's commercialised and made more acceptable to the Western palate, it's something new and interesting, or reminiscent of home to those of us fortunate enough to have grown up with Sid. Dom Tápparo Engenho Desde 1970 swept all the Master awards in the cachaça category for its Cachaca Duas Madeiras Extra Premium, 38% ABV; Cachaça Carvalho Americana 10 Anos, 38% ABV and Cachaça Cabaré, 38% ABV. Being illegal, as Saudi has prohibited alcohol since the 1950s, it was allegedly secretly distilled and enjoyed for decades, and codenamed ‘siddiqui’ – Arabic for ‘my friend’ – to avoid detection.

Siddiqui Rums From Penderyn Distillery

The new Siddiqui rums, both brown and white, are being produced more openly by Penderyn Distillery in Wales, but are said to have been inspired by the original illicit recipes from the ‘Blue Flame’ instruction book that circulated amongst the oil industry workforce. The recipe originated in The Blue Flame manual that everyone followed, and the recipes have been perfected ever since.’ Brazil produces over 800 million liters of cachaça annually, with about one-third coming from small artisanal distilleries. Cachaça has been growing in popularity in the US. According to IWSR, cachaça sales in the US have increased from 6,000 9-liter cases in 2005 to around 60,000 9-liter cases in 2021. Simon’s exceptional work in the global travel retail market and developing international markets, in particular, will support the plans we have in place for Penderyn over the next five years.”

Sipping Siddiqui Brown Rum, is an even woodier experience. To be honest its not terribly pleasant. Bitter woody oak and oak chips fly out at you. Despite this it has a quite a soft and easy going mid palate. Once the oak and wood fade out the sweetness comes out a little more but its still not wowing me at all. If you want to read a bit more Siddiqui then please read this. I’ve had enough hyperbole for one day. The Ron Añejo Carúpano 21 Private Reserve is a Venezuelan rum that is difficult to find in the US. That’s a pity because it is an outstanding rum. This is a no age statement, solera-based rum. The reference to 21 is the age of the solera. This a very aromatic rum. It offers up notes of fruit, along with caramel, vanilla and white chocolate.I’ll be fair to Penderyn Disillery though they are producing this rum for The Siddiqui Rums Corporation based in California. Still it would be nice if someone, somewhere did a little bit of research. It is perhaps no wonder this rum has been largely ignored by the rum community. Leaving overtly curious little weirdos like me to review it…… Saudi Arabia isn’t a country that jumps to mind when thinking about spirits producers, but it does have an association with a new rum brand. Siddiqui Brown Rum is a spirit that, ‘Sips like a whisky and parties like a rum’, and tastes like no other spirit. It has a distinctive whisky-like smokey and oaky note, but it is rounded with a short finish as you’d expect from a quality rum. Nosing Siddiqui Brown Rum I am hit by a lot of oak and smoke. It’s very woody but not terribly “spicy”. I’m not getting a lot of vanilla its more an old smell. I’m wondering about oak staves being used and perhaps some added sugar or glycerin. It smells old but has a strange smoky/sweetness to it.

The only information I have been able to find on Siddiqui Brown Rum is that it is aged in American Oak and is an aged version of their white rum. Quite how long it is aged is I don’t know. Neither can I find any information on their white rum. Rhum Agricole are sugarcane juice-based rums produced primarily in the French West Indies. Less than 5% of the world’s rums are made with sugarcane juice. These rums offer up pronounced fruity and herbaceous flavors that is often accompanied by a hint of wet stone minerality. They are very different from molasses-based rums and are almost Tequila like in their aroma and flavor profile. Other Master winners included Destilería Serrallés, Don Q Oak Barrel Spiced Rum, 45% ABV and Naud Distillery, Hidden Loot Dark Reserve, 41% ABV.I love the stuff, but let's be real - dunking wood/whiskey chips in it (how they made it in Saudi) doesn't make it a whiskey