The Rolling Stones Launch Crossfire Hurricane Rum

The Rolling Stones have entered the spirits market with Crossfire Hurricane Rum, a Jamaican blend now on sale in the United States, the United Kingdom and key European markets. The rum is notable for being the first brand to bring together liquid from four of Jamaica's remaining distilleries including Hampden Estate, Long Pond, Worthy Park and Clarendon, each of which produces a different style of spirit. The result is a blend that draws on the full range of the island's rum-making tradition, with no added sugar.

Crossfire Hurricane Gold. Image credit: Crossfire Hurricane Rum.

The band's connection to Jamaica stretches back more than fifty years, and it is this history that underpins the brand's identity. In the early 1970s, Jamaica was one of the few places that would grant entry to all members of the group. They recorded Goats Head Soup there, in Kingston, and the island has remained a reference point ever since. "Jamaica got into everything we did in the early seventies, the music, the rhythm, the pace of life," the band said in a statement. "Crossfire Hurricane is a continuation of that story, more than fifty years on."

To develop the rum, the Stones brought in Ian Burrell, who works as Global Rum Ambassador and has spent years championing Jamaican rum and its place in the wider spirits world. Burrell served as co-creator of the blend. "The result is a rum of exceptional complexity and character, unlike anything else on the market," he said. The name comes from the opening line of Jumpin' Jack Flash. The bottle puts the band's tongue and lips logo front and centre, with wave patterns radiating outward from it. A natural closure gives it a tactile finish.

The portfolio launches with two expressions. Crossfire Hurricane Gold is the more versatile of the two, intended for mixing, while Crossfire Hurricane Reserve is aimed at those who want to drink it straight, with the distillation character more prominent. The brand describes the base liquid as having tropical fruit notes alongside what it calls a high-ester character, a quality associated with the pot still rums that Jamaican distilleries like Hampden are particularly known for.

Front of Crossfire Hurricane Gold. Image credit: Crossfire Hurricane Rum.

Front of Crossfire Hurricane Reserve. Image credit: Crossfire Hurricane Rum.

Alongside the rum itself, the brand has built out a content platform that includes photographs of the band during their time in Jamaica, some of which have not been published before, alongside writing about the period and what it meant to the group creatively. On the serving side, the brand has developed signature recipes that range from a Hurricane cocktail to a rum Old Fashioned, with the latter intended to show what the spirit does when it is not masked by too many other ingredients. Half a century after Jamaica first opened its doors to the Stones, the island's rum is now the latest thing they've taken with them on the road.