Mike Aikman is dreaming of a strawberry daiquiri, thick with ice, bursting with fruit and splashed with generous helpings of white rum.

But what the 38-year-old really wants is a Scottish version, utilising the best of local produce with a spirit to match.

Up until recently, a Scottish white rum was an inconceivable idea, too difficult a spirit to produce in a Celtic climate so harsh and cold when rum usually thrives in the heat of the Caribbean.

But Mike, along with his friends and business partners Jason Scott and Gavin Ferguson, has done the unthinkable and created a crystal clear white rum which is the first of its kind to be distilled in Scotland.

Utilising an unusual distilling process that makes it faster to produce than anyone thought possible, the trio have created a small batch spirit called 'SeaWolf'.

Taken from the Native American term for killer whales, the drink highlights Britain's naval links with rum importation and the pods of 'sea wolves' found around the Scottish coastline today.

Mike and Jason Scott decided almost two years ago that branching out with their own tipple was too good an opportunity to miss, as the craft spirit and beer market surged in popularity.

The only problem was that gin, a spirit beloved by both and the main focus of their Edinburgh bar Bramble, was everywhere.

"It's massively oversaturated, the spirits world is full of new gins so we just didn't want to do that for exactly that reason although we love gin," Mike explains.

"But it's become a bit passe really, so we thought what else can we do?"

Both avid fans of whisky, Scotland's national drink was outwith their reach considering its long ageing process, so the pair considered rum.

It was no fleeting choice. Earlier this year, drinks giant Diageo, the firm behind the Captain Morgan rum brand, said the category is "on fire" in the UK on-trade and that golden rum alone is worth £217 million.

A distillery had also begun making dark rum in the north-east, so the idea of a Scottish-distilled white rum was suggested instead.

Yet, the problem with white rum is that it too needs a lengthy ageing process and a warm climate, and with Scotland's weather and time not on their side, experiments began to see if it was possible to make a white rum without maturing it.

Traditionally, the hot climes of the Caribbean and South America are the hubs of rum making.

Its close proximity to the base ingredient of cane sugar and the warm temperatures mean that the spirit can be produced quicker, albeit the 'angels share' which evaporates during maturation can be much higher than that of Scotch whisky due to the heat.

With an ageing process that takes place in steel drums for white rum and bourbon casks for the dark variety, typically at least a year is required to make a clear spirit ready for bottling.

What Mike and Jason, along with business partner Gavin Ferguson of Vino Wines, managed was something far quicker.

In four weeks, they achieved fermentation. From start to finish they had rum in just two months.

"We started investigating the possibility of whether we could make a rum which we wouldn't have to age, which a lot of people were dubious about including ourselves," says Mike.

"Everything we've been taught by a lot of big rum brands is that this ageing process is essential.

"We did some trials and we were pleasantly surprised because we felt it didn't need any ageing, so we filtered it."

Produced in Forfar at the same distillery as Ogilvy, Scotland's first potato vodka, the trio sourced a pot still to allow their rum to be made in small batches and experimented with recipes, settling on traditional cane molasses to ferment using rum and champagne yeasts at a low temperature for four weeks.

In just 18 months, their rum with its unusual notes of banana, citrus and spice has gone from an idea to a limited 300 bottle run, ready to grace bars across the country.

It's a fast, innovative process that surprised even Mike, who admits that at one point the team were close to giving up on their rum based dream after numerous failed attempts.

While it isn't an authentic rum in that SeaWolf bypasses the traditional ageing process, the team's innovation means it's possible to produce a spirit previously thought to be unsustainable to make anywhere but the Caribbean.

"It's not what you would call 'authentic' but it is authentic because it's properly made, it's artisan, it's craft, it's very small a batch so there are lots of other elements to it that I think people will get on board with," Mike says.

The origin of the word rum is unclear. The name may have derived from rumbullion meaning "a great tumult or uproar". Some claim that the name is from the large drinking glasses used by Dutch seamen known as rummers.

But Mike and the team now plan to have their rum version filter into the market and Mike believes Scotland's cocktail scene will continue to thrive.

"It has done a complete and utter u-turn in the time I've worked in the trade where everything before was big brands, and now everything's made by little craft breweries in every little nook and cranny in Scotland," Mike says.

"It's a very exciting time for the industry, possibly more so than ever."