About Dead Man's Fingers
Inside the Rum and Crab Shack, a famous seafood joint In St Ives, Cornwall; and feeling suitably liberated from the tyranny of convention, a spiced rum was born.
Launched in 2015 by the Rum & Crab Shack in St Ives, Cornwall, Dead Man’s Fingers set out to rewrite the rulebook for spiced rum. Founders Simon Thomson and Steve Morgan began by blending Caribbean column-still rum with Cornish saffron cake, Pedro Ximénez sherry and a squeeze of Seville orange, bottling the result in a matte-black skull that quickly became a bar-shelf icon. Today, production sits with Halewood Artisanal Spirits, but the ethos remains punk-rock Caribbean flavour with a British seaside twist. Each 37.5 % ABV expression starts with two- to three-year-old rums aged in ex-bourbon casks, then infused with natural fruit extracts and spices—no heavy caramel masking—before bottling without chill-filtration to preserve texture.
The core Original Spiced Rum layers vanilla, orange rind and clove over soft Demerara sweetness. Flavoured offshoots have exploded into a rainbow line-up: Coconut (toasted marshmallow), Coffee (Arabica espresso), Lime (zesty Mojito base), Pineapple (grilled fruit & brown sugar), Banana, Passionfruit, Mango, Raspberry, Cherry, Black Grape and Hazelnut, each designed for simple highballs or cocktail twists. Seasonal Skull Editions add eye-catching limited labels, while Dead Man’s Fingers Rum Cream blends Caribbean rum with dairy cream at 17 % ABV for dessert-friendly pours. Premium line-ups include Cornish Black Rum (40 % ABV, PX-sherry finish) and single-batch cask experiments released through the brand’s “Hook Line & Sinker” series. Recognition comes via IWSC and Spirits Business medals, and an official partnership with the UK Surfing Championships underlines its laid-back coastal DNA.
