Bumbu
The rum in the heavy bottle with the rope around the neck, full of vanilla and caramel. Everything about the types, the alcohol percentage, how to drink it and the right glass to use.
A modern rum with an old story
Bumbu refers to 'bumbo', a drink that sailors made in the Caribbean in the seventeenth century from rum, water, sugar and spices. The Bumbu brand is much younger: it was launched in 2014 and quickly built a strong reputation, partly because of its distinctive embossed bottle with a rope and the attention it received on social media.
Bumbu The Original is made in Barbados from sugar cane from eight different countries in the West Indies and aged for up to fifteen years in oak barrels. XO comes from Panama and is aged for up to eighteen years in ex-bourbon barrels, with a finish in sherry casks. All Bumbu varieties are distinctly sweet and full-flavored; they are intended more for sipping than mixing.
In brief
What types of Bumbu are there?
Bumbu The Original
The best-known bottle: small-batch rum from Barbados, aged for up to fifteen years. Sweet and full-bodied, with vanilla, caramel and spices.
Bumbu XO
Panamanian small-batch rum aged for up to eighteen years in ex-bourbon barrels, with a short finish in sherry casks. Toffee, oak, orange and coffee.
Bumbu Cream
Rum with Caribbean spices and real cream, with a distinct cinnamon note. Smooth and dessert-like.
The Original is the all-rounder; XO is the bottle to drink neat.
Vanilla, caramel and plenty of sweetness
Vanilla & caramel
Rich vanilla, caramel, banana and baking spices such as cinnamon. It smells more like dessert than a dry rum.
Sweet and rounded
Clearly sweet and syrupy, with vanilla, toffee and oak. No sharp edges; this is an approachable, smooth rum.
Warm with spices
Long, warm finish of caramel, oak and cinnamon. The XO is drier, with more orange and coffee on the finish.
Flavor profile of Bumbu The Original. The XO is drier and woodier and scores about 4/5 for sweetness; the Cream is a 15% cream liqueur.
Three ways to drink Bumbu
Bumbu is sweet enough to drink neat. In a cocktail, it works best when you reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe.
On the rocks
5 cl Bumbu over one large ice cube in a tumbler. The ice melts slowly and takes the sweet edge off, while the vanilla and caramel remain. The simplest and best way.
Glass: tumbler →With cola or ginger beer
5 cl Bumbu with 150 ml cola or ginger beer and plenty of ice in a highball glass, with a lime wedge. The rum’s sweetness calls for something fresh to balance it.
Cuba Libre recipe →Neat, after dinner
4 cl Bumbu XO at room temperature in a cognac glass. Warm the glass in your hand and sip slowly: that’s when the toffee, oak and orange really emerge.
Glass: cognac glass →The best cocktails with Bumbu
Bumbu already brings plenty of sugar. So use less syrup than the recipe calls for, or choose a cocktail where the rum can provide the sweetness.
Dark 'n Stormy
Dark rum with ginger beer and lime. The ginger cuts right through the sweetness.
Cuba Libre
Rum, cola and lime over plenty of ice. With Bumbu, fuller and sweeter than with white rum.
Mai Tai
Rum, lime, almond syrup and orange liqueur. Feel free to leave out the syrup here.
Mudslide
Cream liqueur, coffee liqueur and vodka. With Bumbu Cream, it becomes a caramel-cinnamon dessert.The right glass for Bumbu
A heavy tumbler for on the rocks, a cognac glass for XO neat, and a long drink glass if you serve it with cola. These are the glasses we recommend ourselves.
Everything you still wanted to know about Bumbu
Is your question not listed? Check out our cocktail recipes or get in touch.
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