In the 1960s, founder Jonny Croft’s father worked as a doctor in Papua New Guinea. While creating his Spiced Rum, Jonny was looking for a pure, tropically aged rum from the South Pacific and was fascinated by his father’s stories of the cargo cults he had encountered. He visited PNG island nation and discovered a small distillery near the town of Lae that had never exported its fine rum.
In creating Cargo Cult Spiced Rum, Jonny wanted a rum that was made from premium aged rums (both column and pot rums), was naturally spiced and had no added sugar. Along with an aged rum from Fiji, Jonny took raw, dry spices: Cloves, Cardamom, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Ginger and Vanilla and created this wonderfully balanced spiced rum. It can be drunk neat. In the preparation of cocktails, it is a great rum, because the flavors are well displayed and the lack of added sugar ensures that you can individually balance the sweetness of the cocktail.
A cargo cult is a belief system that arose in the South Pacific as a reaction to European colonialism. Behind it is the idea that by building infrastructure and performing rituals, one can attract wealth and prosperity from Western civilization. It’s like trying to win the lottery by buying a ticket and praying for luck. On some remote islands in the South Pacific, cargo cults wait patiently to this day for unlimited supplies of cargo to appear on the horizon, as they did during World War II. To summon the mythical cargo, airplane towers are built from palm trees, runways are cleared and fires are still lit. Good things come to those who wait, and even if the infinite wealth of cargo is yet to come, the rum is already here. One of the most famous cargo cults is the John Frum cargo cult on the island of Vanuatu. The people of Vanuatu Island associated John Frum with cargo and believed that it would bring them wealth and prosperity. As part of their rituals, they build totems out of bamboo that replicate airplanes, jeeps, and other modern items.
CARGO CULT Aged Rum
This rum is the product of remote island distilleries, made from rich volcanic soil and hand-cut South Pacific cane. The pot and column still rum is tropically aged in former bourbon barrels and then refined with natural spices and no added sugar.
Profile: Super dry flavor with cinnamon, gingerbread and light vanilla, with subtle pot-still flavors and a spicy, dry aftertaste.
CARGO CULT Banana Spiced
From rich volcanic soil and naturally pure South Pacific sugar cane, a pot and column still rum is aged in former bourbon barrels, flavored and infused with bananas from North Queensland.
Profile: Sweet, ripe bananas shine through along with cinnamon, ginger, vanilla and subtle pot-still flavors.
Navy Strength Rum
CARGO CULT is produced in remote island distilleries from rich volcanic soil and hand-cut South Pacific cane. This unique marine-strength rum is made exclusively from pot still rum aged in ex-bourbon barrels and bottled at 54.5% alcohol.
Profile: Silky smooth and deeply aromatic, with flavors of caramel, butterscotch and dark chocolate that gently balance and slowly fade, with a soft, warm finish and a lingering aftertaste.
