meet the producers
Having a Rum Time in Scotland By Janice Hopper
Jacine Rutasikwa and her partner Paul Rutasikwa are making waves with their Scottish produced rums, Matugga and Liv. Every bottle is distilled from scratch in Scotland, crafted with Scottish water and infused with Scottish, East African and Jamaican botanicals, but the Livingston distillers have just scooped a significant new investment. In March 2022, the awardwinning producers sought £300,000 of investment through crowdfunding to expand their team and purchase additional distillery kit to increase their output eight-fold. The funds were raised in just two weeks, welcoming more than 200 new shareholders who have bought into the company’s plans to take Scottish rum worldwide by blending distilling skills honed
in Scotland with their proud African and Caribbean roots. With this healthy cash boost, head distiller Paul hopes to accelerate Matugga’s export strategy and he’s planning work on a sugarcane plantation in his native Uganda, where the family have 120 acres of land situated just north of the capital city of Kampala. Paul says, “The African market is buoyant but craft drinks companies in the UK don’t see the opportunity. When it comes to export, UK companies immediately think of Asia and North America - but they are missing out on huge demand, appetite and spending power across African nations.’ ‘We are fortunate to have the contacts, cultural affinity, family ties and product-market fit to be an early mover,’ continues Paul. ‘Our team shares a common
desire to support the livelihoods of sugarcane growers in East Africa. We are developing a sugarcane plantation on our family land that will employ and train local agricultural workers. By harvesting cane from our land and converting it into highquality distilling molasses we will become a ‘Cane to Cask’ rum producer.” The couple hopes to capitalise on the rising popularity of rum, which had a global market of £17.2bn in 2021. The UK rum market alone grew by 37% in just two years from 2019 – amounting to £1.3bn last year, so it’s a burgeoning market. Jacine and Paul’s distillery creates ‘Matugga’ and ‘Liv’ rum, two different brands, each with their own identity. Matugga is a gourmet range of premium smoky golden rums aged in ex-
Introducing Liv Rum
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bourbon casks, and aromatic masala chai spiced rums, aimed at rum aficionados (RRP £40£55 / 70cl). The ‘Liv’ brand is inspired by the pride Jacine and Paul feel in their adopted hometown of Livingston. Liv has a more youthful vibe, aimed at a younger clientele who know their own minds and enjoy trying something new. This is a new collection of unaged artisan white and spiced rums and flavoured rum liqueurs that are infused with Scottish fruits and botanicals (RRP £23-£31 / 50cl). Matugga was set up back in 2018. Prior to this Jacine was a Chartered Marketer and Paul was a Chartered Civil Engineer. They spotted a gap in the market for craft rums that have been created from scratch in the UK and took the opportunity
