Skotlander Rum Being Aged in World War II Bunker

Prior Skotlander Rums  Aged Aboard Ships

     Skotlander Rum has become the first in the world to mature its spirit in a bunker last used during the World War II.  Niels Henrik Lindhardt, from the North Danish town of Aabybro  owns the building and was “excited about the spirit experiment from day one”.   Skotlander Rum will also slowly ferment the rum mash in the bunker for four weeks before maturing in the same location.  Owner of Skotlander Rum, Anders Skotlander, said that while the tropics are traditionally the part of the world associated with rum maturation, Denmark’s cold climate “offers us something different”.

     “Previously we have tried ageing rum at sea on an old schooner – the movement of the sea and the difference between summer and winter gave us a really interesting rum,” he said.  “Now let’s try the complete opposite – the rum is being kept still and the temperature in the bunker is 57 Degrees F night and day, all year round.”  “The rum will have to age for longer than normal in the cold and humid environment, but we believe that the slow maturation will reflect the Danish terroir and result in a very sophisticated rum. At least that’s what we hope – but we really don’t know.”  Skotlander has the Danish Food Administration approval to store 10,000 liters of rum in the bunker.   The first batches should be available in 2018. 

     Spirits producers have experimented with different maturation methods for as long as spirits have been made.  Everything from putting the spirit into an oak bottle to sending the spirit into space and everything in between.  The solera method is one of the earlier methods to reduce the maturation time, and a method that is still in use today.   Today there are a number of companies placing the casks onboard ships and sending them out to sea or even submerging the casks below the sea.  There is one company that has learned how to alter the rum chemically to accomplish in a very short period of time to do what the barrel takes years to accomplish.

     All of these methods and many more have yielded different results, providing the unique flavor that the producer is looking for.  Do they all work, well, that is a subject of long debates among spirits producers.  One thing for sure most all of the methods have helped the producers to sell their spirits.