0% Golden Spiced

M&S have entered the alcohol-free drinks field with boldness and panache and some of their drinks are among our highest rated.  Dark rum is a difficult drink to approximate without the use of sugar cane distillation which gives the drink its heavy slightly sweet aromatic kick. M&S have done not a bad job here in  finding their way to a richly spiced drink with some real sense of the mouthfeel of rum.  There’s a toffeeish flavour sitting beneath some citrus and spice notes, and the addition of cassia bark gives a slightly tannic feel, which contributes to the Caribbean notes.  Ginger, pepper and chilli add a spicy hit which helps with the feel that this is a serious and complex drink.  At times I felt the ingredients were fighting slightly amongst themselves and there’s a slight hint of hot rubber in the combined tastes which means I haven’t marked it higher.  But rum is a very difficult drink to reproduce without alcohol and this is a very fair shot.