Enjoy Our Friend Sid
The Story of Siddiqui
Bringing back the good stuff
With roots in both America and the Middle East, Siddiqui is the perfect blend of two worlds. Combining the moonshining culture of the Middle East, as well as the smoky flavors of American liquor, Siddiqui Rum is an entirely new creation, a brand new drink that arose from a very unique place.
The story of the American oil industry is a long and complicated one, but it intertwines with that of Siddiqui very deeply. When the oil industry of the Middle East opened up to the West in the 1930s, it didn’t take long for them to discover the largest oil reserves in the world. But while exploring the land for oil, the American workers also discovered a drink that was just as valuable.
In 1973, Nigel Brown, the son of an engineer working in the oil industry, moved from England to the Middle East with his family. As they grew more and more accustomed to the area and the culture, his family picked up some of the habits and lifestyles of the local communities. One of those customs was that many families owned pot stills and distilled their own rum, using homemade recipes and spices, and shared their creations with family and friends.
Nigel’s family however, took this to a whole new level. Not only did they distill their own liquor, but they also threw lavish parties for the whole neighborhood to come and enjoy it. Their policy was anyone and everyone was invited to their house-party-turned-night-club events, and over the years, as those parties went on and on, Nigel and his father perfected their process and recipe for the drink they called “Siddiqui”.
Siddiqui
“si-DEE-key” (noun)
- Colloquial term for alcoholic drinks illegally distilled in the Middle East
- Family surname meaning “truthful”
- Name coined by American Oil Industry workers meaning “my friend”
After leaving his Siddiqui behind in Middle East to pursue his education and career, Nigel looked for a drink that could rival his own homemade rum. Caribbean rum was too sweet. Scotch was too peaty. The closest thing he could find was American bourbon, but even top-shelf choices didn’t quite get the job done.
So after a few years of deliberation and research, Nigel decided to bring his homemade Siddiqui rum to the U.S. It took some preparation, and a few different warehouses along the way, but it wasn’t long until he was proud of the product he had recreated.
“At night we would sit on the beach, with the moonlight shimmering on the calm warm bay of the Persian Gulf. We would light a fire and dig our feet into the warm desert sands and break out our homemade Siddiqui. Sitting by the fire with thousands of stars overhead, and the sweet, smoky flavors of this amazing rum melting in your mouth was just heaven on earth.”
Nigel J Brown CEOFrom those humble beginnings in the garage of his Middle Eastern home, to our large warehouses full of bottles of Siddiqui, we’ve come a long way, but our journey is far from over. Our goal is to bring this amazing product to the world market so everyone can experience and taste what Nigel grew up with in the Middle East.
Today, here in Northern California, we use the finest ingredients and our recipes have been crafted from years of experience in making desert moonshine. We hope you have a chance to spend some time with our friend, Sid, very soon and get to enjoy this mouth-watering, exotic rum with roots from the American oil industry workers that perfected it.