​ Chef Paula McIntyre's new rum captures our wild and delightful flavours

The new spirit from the respected and hugely popular Farming Life chef follows the successful introduction of a gin with a unique blend of local botanicals including some from around Co Antrim.

Television culinary star Paula, from Aghadowey in Co Antrim, has based her new spirits on her vast experience cooking with gin, rum and whiskey over many years in demonstrations and leading presentations including successful cooking shows such as the kitchen at the Royal Ulster Agricultural Show at Balmoral Park.

A champion of local food and drink producers, Paula has also authored successful books on local foods especially from the Causeway Coast region.

Commenting on the spirits, Paula says she has created “drinks that capture the spirit of Northern Ireland - wild and delightful flavours, combined with locally harvested Irish gorse, meadow sweet, and lemon verbena”.

The rum is also “dependent for its rich flavouring on a blend of locally sourced products”.

Aromatic canary yellow flowers of the local gorse bushes, which add a smooth and subtle coconut flavour, and raw honey from the Mournes provides a touch of caramel sweetness. Blackberries are gathered from around her Co Antrim home.

“I’ve been sourcing these spirits for my cooking and recipe creation over many years. It’s something I really enjoy and helps me to showcase the extent and variety of natural foods around Northern Ireland,” she adds.

Paula has created both spirits as “a true expression of Northern Ireland, its history, and its people, intertwined in a tapestry of rich flavours that convey a story of passion, perseverance, and pride”.

As with the earlier gin, Paula developed the rum with Giant’s Basalt Rock distillery in Bushmills, a producer of a premium gin, that is owned by James Richardson and Martha Garbe, both of whom approach distilling from backgrounds in chemistry.