Smoke, Molasses, and Mischief

There aren't many rums like Stolen Smoked, and even fewer that actually land the idea. It takes a clean column-distilled rum from Trinidad - molasses-based, filtered, unfussy - and reimagines it not through ageing, but through infusion. Not of vanilla or spice, but of coffee and hardwood smoke. The result isn't subtle, but it isn't clumsy either. It's deliberately different, and fully aware of what that means.

The first thing that hits you is the aroma - not smoke in the Islay whisky sense, but something warmer and rounder. Smoked wood, roasted coffee, molasses, dark caramel. It smells like a cafE after hours. There's a touch of charred oak and clove in there too, and something lightly sweet - not syrup, but brown sugar burnt just long enough to matter.

On the palate, it's medium-bodied and surprisingly composed. The smoke doesn't dominate - it threads through the core of the rum. Espresso, toffee, toasted spice and oak sit up front, with a low hum of bitterness and a dry, almost savoury finish. You expect it to veer into novelty. It doesn't. It holds.

What's clever about Stolen Smoked is how it behaves in a drink. In a cold brew and cola, it deepens both. In an Old Fashioned, it leans into the coffee and smoke without needing extra sweetness. Even floated on top of something tropical - a Pina Colada, a Mai Tai - it changes the drink without overwhelming it. That's hard to do with flavour-driven spirits. Most of them shout. This one smoulders.

It won't work for everyone. But that's never been the point. It's not a rum for purists or collectors. It's for people who know how to build flavour, who want smoke without peat, who see cold brew and bitters as ingredients, not trends. It sits somewhere between rum, coffee liqueur, and the edge of a mezcal - not imitating any of them, but borrowing just enough to stay interesting.

You don't sip it neat to be impressed. You sip it to see what it does next. That's where the value is. Not in age or rarity or finish. But in intention - and in the freedom to not play by the rules.

Stolen Smoked isn't trying to win everyone over. It's trying to change the shape of the conversation. And it does - one well-built drink at a time.