From Cask to World’s Best: How we age and blend our Award-Winning Rum

Winning World’s Best Rum for our Jester Cask Strength Sherry Expression at the 2026 World Rum Awards was an incredible moment for everyone here at Shakespeare Distillery.

Awards are always special, but this one felt particularly rewarding because it recognised years of patience, experimentation and countless hours spent sampling spirit, discussing flavour and refining blends. While every great rum begins with quality fermentation and distillation, the real magic often happens after the spirit leaves the still.

So, how do we transform our Jester White Rum into an award-winning aged expression?

It all starts with the Cask

Every cask has its own personality.

Back in 2021, we filled a range of different ex-industry casks with our British-made Jester White Rum. Ex-Bourbon, Port, Moscatel, Oloroso Sherry, re-charred Bourbon, Madeira to name a few. Although each cask contained the same spirit, they all began to shape it in completely different ways.

Some casks produced bright, vibrant flavours that hit the front of the palate first. These are often lighter notes such as vanilla, citrus and buttery sweetness. Other casks developed richer characteristics in the middle of the palate, bringing fruit, spice and molasses notes to the fore. Then there are the casks that create deeper, earthier flavours, delivering nuttiness, texture and a long, lingering finish.

Every few months we draw samples from each cask to see how the rum is evolving. We’re not simply checking whether it’s getting older; we’re identifying exactly what each cask contributes to the overall flavour profile.

Each sample helps us build a picture of what that particular cask can contribute, giving us the foundation for creating balanced, layered and characterful rum blends.

Why age isn’t always the full story

When people think about aged rum, it’s easy to focus on the number on the label. But maturation is about much more than simply counting years.

Unlike some larger distilleries, our casks aren’t stored in a temperature-controlled environment. Instead, they’re exposed to the natural changes in temperature that come with the British seasons. As temperatures rise and fall, the spirit expands and contracts within the barrel, increasing its interaction with the wood.

Over time, this allows the cask to impart flavour, colour and character more rapidly than might be expected from the age statement alone.

As a result, while a five-year-old rum may seem relatively young to some aged rum enthusiasts, we’ve found our casks have produced spirits with a depth, complexity and maturity that often surprises people when they taste them. It’s a reminder that when it comes to rum, age is only one part of the story – how the spirit has matured is just as important.

Creating a three-dimensional rum

One of the biggest misconceptions about aged spirits is that the best cask automatically produces the best rum.

In reality, some of the most exciting spirits are created through blending.

When we assess our casks, we’re constantly asking ourselves where each flavour sits on the palate. Does it deliver those bright opening notes? Does it provide richness through the middle? Does it contribute depth and texture to the finish?

The aim is to create what we call a three-dimensional spirit.

By combining rum from different casks in carefully chosen ratios, we can build layers of flavour that evolve from the first sip to the last. Bright citrus and buttery notes give way to rich fruit and spice, before finishing with earthy nuttiness and a texture that lingers long after the glass is empty.

Rather than starting with a formula, we start with a flavour we love and then look for ways to fill any gaps. Sometimes a blend needs more fruit. Sometimes it needs more sweetness. Sometimes it simply needs something that lengthens the finish.

Blending is part science, part creativity and, above all, a lot of tasting.

The relationship between flavour and strength

Another fascinating part of blending is understanding how alcohol strength affects flavour.

Whenever we sample a cask, we taste it both at cask strength and at lower strengths.

Why? Because flavour behaves differently at different alcohol percentages.

Some casks reveal more character when water is added. Lowering the strength can open up the spirit, allowing subtle fruit and spice notes to emerge that were previously hidden. Other casks are at their most expressive straight from the barrel, with the flavours we want appearing most clearly at cask strength.

This is why choosing the final bottling strength is just as important as choosing the blend itself. It’s another tool we use to showcase the rum in the best possible way.

The blend behind our World’s Best Rum

For our latest award-winning expression, Jester Rum Cask Strength Sherry Expression we selected two of our oldest casks: an ex-bourbon cask and an ex-sherry cask.

These two casks could hardly be more different.

The ex-sherry cask, being smaller in size, encouraged faster maturation and developed an incredibly rich and intense character. It delivers deep colour and flavours reminiscent of fortified wine, packed with rich dried fruits and tinned fruit notes. It’s bold, punchy and coats the palate with luxurious intensity.

The ex-bourbon cask takes the rum in a completely different direction. It is lighter, brighter and more vibrant, bringing notes of ripe apricot, peach, butter spice and generous amounts of vanilla. Where the sherry cask provides depth and richness, the bourbon cask introduces freshness and lift.

Together they create balance.

The bourbon cask delivers those vibrant front-of-palate flavours that the sherry cask lacks, while the sherry cask contributes the richness, weight and complexity that make the rum so memorable. The result is a spirit that evolves continuously in the glass and across the palate, revealing something new with every sip.

Patience, passion and a little bit of luck

When we first filled these casks in 2021, we knew they would be interesting. What we didn’t know was that five years later they would help create a rum recognised as the best in the world.

The journey from fresh white rum to award-winning aged spirit is not a quick one. It requires patience, careful monitoring and a willingness to experiment. Every cask teaches us something new, and every blend presents a fresh opportunity to create something exceptional.

Winning World’s Best is a fantastic milestone, but perhaps the most exciting thing is that our casks are still evolving. There are more samples to draw, more blends to explore and more stories waiting to be discovered.

And for us, that’s what rum making is all about.