Rhucello began as a result of a drunken stag party in Amsterdam during February 2014. What was originally a bit of a joke and banter has spawned into the wildly(!) successful phenomenon known as Rhucello.
As part of the party antics in the bicycle cursed city, we visited a well known Dutch liqueur distillery. During the tour our hosts proudly proclaimed they had 38 different flavours of liqueur, ranging from chocolate to watermelon. As many of the party hailed from Wakefield it wasn’t long before we spotted the glaring omission from the range.
“What, no Rhubarb?” was the cry, and thus the seed for the Rhucello story was planted.
Initial tests through spring of 2014 were encouraging, with the creation of the first ever bottle of Rhucello (of sorts). A mishmash of rhubarb, sugar and cheap vodka. This single bottle was revealed to the world during a weekend in Ayr, Scotland.
Rhucello has since gone though plenty of taste testing, and a bit of a brand revamp to become the polished article you see today. Big thanks to all involved who have helped with the taste testing, production and to my friend Gav for the design and marketing.
We'd love to tell you that Rhucello was made at some picturesque rural estate, where the grass is greener than green and the sky is always blue, but this just isn't true. Rhucello is concocted in a house in suburban Wakefield, a town at the heart of the rhubarb triangle.
Rhucello is made with Yorkshire Rhubarb, supplied fresh from the farm down the road. In fact, when we go to collect the rhubarb we often see them picking the stalks on the way up the drive. Here at Rhucello, we try to use the rhubarb on the same day we get it.
The Rhubarb Triangle is a 9-square-mile triangle in West Yorkshire, England between Wakefield, Morley and Rothwell famous for producing early forced rhubarb.
Rhubarb thrives in the wet cold winters in Yorkshire. West Yorkshire once produced 90% of the world’s winter forced rhubarb from the forcing sheds that were common across the fields. In February 2010, Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb was awarded Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status by the European Commission’s Protected Food Name scheme after being recommended by Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).