The Duppy Share launches first brand extension

Rum brand The Duppy Share has launched its first brand extension in the UK, since it was founded five years ago, with a new spiced variant.

The new The Duppy Share Spiced, which is primarily targeting the on-trade but will also be available exclusively in Selfridges from today, has been developed with Robin Honhold, co-founder of drinks innovation team A/O, who was previously head of operations at Mr Lyan ltd.

It is based on the original Duppy Share rum, comprising a blend of aged rums from Jamaican distillery Worthy Park and Foursquare in Barbados, with added natural flavours including pineapple, kola nut, ginger, vanilla, clove and nutmeg, grapefruit, orange and basil.

It features thinner bottle with a longer neck intended to make it easier for bartenders to work with behind a busy bar, is hoping to tap into the burgeoning market for spiced rum. 

Founder George Frost said spiced rum had suffered from a bad reputation in the past for being “super sweet and packed so full of flavourings” that you couldn’t tell it was rum, but the drink was enjoying a renaissance.

“Spiced rum is booming in the UK, with sales topping 10 million bottles in 2019, and I saw a massive opportunity to create a spiced rum that focused on adding depth of flavour and complexity that consumers don’t usually get or expect from other spiced rums,” he said. “It’s all about creating a great tasting liquid that stands out from the crowd.”

He said the company had wanted to “forge a different path to advance the category and show consumers how good a spiced rum can be”.

Honhold said the team wanted “to celebrate the distilleries in Jamaica and Barbados to create a bright and fresh rum that not only tastes great but heroes The Duppy Share’s sense of fun.”