I tried the Rolling Stones’s new rum – and it’s perfect for late summer cocktails

The Rolling Stones have a longstanding and deep connection to Jamaica. The album Goats Head Soup, in all its raw classic-Stones rock and roll glory, was recorded in Kingston at the height of reggae’s international boom. The band, particularly Keith Richards became enamoured with the country. Richards purchased property there in the 70s and stayed on and off for decades.

Rum is embedded into Jamaican culture and the gold standard spirits are distilled from sugar cane grown there. But where there was once more than 150 distilleries in Jamaica alone, this has dwindled to just six in the present day.

Now 50 years after recording their album named after one of Jamaica’s national dishes, The Rolling Stones created Crossfire Hurricane rum as a way to honour their links to Jamaica while supporting local distilleries: Hampden Estate, Long Pond, Worthy Park and Clarendon. The rum’s name comes from the first line of the song Jumpin’ Jack Flash, as Mick Jagger sings ‘I was born in a crossfire hurricane’. Blended with distillates from the four estates, Crossfire Hurricane was created alongside rum expert and ambassador Ian Burrell.

Burrell was brought in to ensure strict adherence to the traditional Jamaican rum process – and not least, teaching rum drinkers to spill a swig of rum on the floor to appease any nearby ghosts.

I visited a humid, balmy Ocho Rios to taste batch one of the Crossfire Hurricane gold and reserve rums, and here’s what I thought.

Read more: Best tequilas, reviewed