The Black Pit was the nickname given to a perilous area in the mid-Atlantic gap during the Battle of the Atlantic in WWII. It was here that German U-Boats would take the upper hand with the absence of protective air cover, making Allied convoys an easy target.

And whenever we've got rum and maritime history, we know who's at hand - it's Australia's Dead Reckoning, the independent rum bottler whose giving rums an Aussie touch, with everything from unique blends to exposing rums to the rare climatic conditions of Australia (known as Australia Dry Ageing, where the ABV goes up, not down!). At the helm of Dead Reckoning is Justin Boseley, once a ship captain turned rum aficionado, and this time he's giving his new Demerara expression yet another maritime inspiration. 

"Having done nine Atlantic Crossings myself sitting on the bridge of a mega yacht at 2 am, my mind used to wander to this perilous section of the Atlantic thinking how disastrous it would feel floating around in one of the worlds largest sections of ocean after your boat had been sunk."

As for the rum at hand, Dead Reckoning has for us what they've termed "the ultimate blend showcasing what three wooden stills can produce". Using a combination of both closed and open fermentation, the rums are a blend of distillates from the Enmore wooden Coffey column still, the Versailles pot still and finally the Port Mourant still. "I’ve always been a big fan of Guyanese Rum ever since the York family from Quittin Time in Australia introduced them to me 13 years ago." says Justin.

For an extra Aussie touch, the rums have been aged in Adelaide, South Australia, in a combination of Muscat casks (from a South Australian winery) and ex-Bourbon casks, with a total of 2 1/2 years of Australian dry ageing on top of 5 years of tropical ageing.

The rum is described as "a sticky date pudding, topped with toffee caramel and steamed with fresh roasted coffee in a glass."

The new Dead Reckoning Black Pit Demerara will be available through the Rum Tribe September onwards in Australia, with a roll out to European and US markets subsequently.