Hopefully this wont be too wordy a post as my main intention is to draw your attention to the pictures on Flickr, they pretty much say it all – This has been a fortnight of rum.

It started at Rumfest, the only trade/consumer show that I can think of which specialises in one spirit category. It also happens to be my favourite show, capturing the essence of rum and allowing the attendees to freely enjoy the spirits and have a lot of fun. One of the other things that I like about the show is that both consumers and professionals are allowed in, I found myself explaining both the basics of rum to uninitiated ‘plus ones’, and having in depth chats with leading bartenders and brand ambassadors.

Now is probably a good time to mention that I was working with Daryl Haldane and Rich Beaumont on the Ron Zacapa stand.

The show ran for two days opening at the sensible time of 12am on Saturday 24th October, but even then it didn’t really get busy until later in the afternoon. Once it was busy however, it was really busy. It’s not often you find a sampling station four deep with willing participants!

Of course there was an added bonus in the form of the diminutive yet highly revered Lorena Vasquez. It was the first time that I had met Lorena, the master blender of Ron Zacapa, and apart from the language barrier she was as charming and interesting as I had hoped she would be. My main concern was that I found enough ways to extract priceless pearls of rum aging wisdom from her, I think I did well!

The first day of the festival was followed by dinner at The Floridita in Soho with Lorena and her gang. For once Laura had come up to London with me (because it was the weekend) and it was great for us both to visit a bar who’s counterpart in Cuba we are both familiar with (even though I had been to the London Floridita before!). Dinner was lovely, though it took a long time for the rum to get flowing, slow service probably due to the vast numbers of people crammed down there.

The Monday and Tuesday saw two World Class finals that I was both organising and compering, London and South.

London on the Monday kicked off at midday with five competitors from all around the capital:

• Patrick Hobbs – Boisdale Bishopsgate
• Simon La’Moon – Townhouse
• Erik Lorincz – Connaught
• Denis Mendes – Connaught
• Andy Mil – London Cocktail Club

The judges were Colin Dunn (my whisky ambassador colleague) and Tristan Welch (chef extraordinaire from Launceston Place). I devised a devilish format for the competition, which required all competitors to make two drinks in the first round using Pampero Especial and Pampero Anniversario. One of the drinks was titled ‘Navy Grog’ and it required the bartender to create an authentic Navy/seafaring themed drink that was ‘fit for the Captain’s table’. The other drink in the first round was to be themed around Tiki culture, opening up many opportunities for their presentations, though ultimately resulting in punch bowls, dry ice and plastic lobsters!

In the final round the top two competitors were asked to make and original Ron Zacapa cocktail. The winner was Erik from the Connaught, he will be winging his way to Venezuela next year as well as appearing on a London billboard and competing in next years UK final, lucky guy.

The Southern final was held at one of my favourite bars, Urban Beach in Bournemouth. Barrie Wilson (from Reserve Brands) and Andy Coleman (of previous World Class fame) were judging what turned out to be a fiercely competitive competition.

Competitors were:

• Chris Lacey-Malvern – Speakeasy, Exeter
• Jon Lister – Urban Beach, Bournemouth
• Christos Kyriakides – Vanilla Rooms, Cardiff
• Dave Jones – Nathan Outlaws Seafood & Grill, Cornwall
• Kashi Forootani – 1812, Bournemouth

Chessnuts were roasted and umbrellas were toasted, egos were tarnished and dragons were garnished.

Ultimately it was Kashi and Christos who made it to the final. Christos lost the toss and was up first with a polished confident performance. It was all going well for Kashi until a whipped mascarpone malfunction in a tiramisu themed drink lost him serious points and the win. Christos will be on the trip with Erik and appearing on a billboard somewhere in Cardiff!

Sometimes I think I think that there is actually too much stuff for me to write about on this blog. So I tell myself to be selective about what I am going to cover and then up selecting nothing at all. Your feedback on anything that I have written that has interested you, or any subjects that I have only partially covered or not written about at all would be massively appreciated.

There you go, I didn’t even begin to write about the 40+ rums that I sampled at Rumfest.

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