News

The WINNER for the Havana Club Añejo 3 Años Rum of the Month and the first rum giveaway competition has been chosen by Pernod Ricard Australia!

Congratulations to Bradley Jolly with his winning answer being:

"I'd enjoy it with a few close friends, some citrus fruits, mint, plenty of ice and some nice conversation. A few snacks wouldn't hurt either."

The prize for this competition is a bottle of Havana Club Añejo 3 Años, enjoy!

Many thanks to Pernod Ricard Australia for sponsoring the competition.

Keep an eye out for this space for our next competition (announced shortly)!

This competition is now over!

Want RUM? Enter the competition!

Ladies and Gentlemen, for the first time ever Refined Vices is proud to present to you the Rum of The Month competition featuring the very special Havana Club 3 Años yet to be released in Australia!

Those of us who were lucky enough to make it to the last Rum Club session at the Golden Monkey were given an exclusive tasting of Havana Club 3 Años and here is your second chance for some more!

We are very happy to announce that Havana Club Australia will be giving away one bottle of Havana Club Añejo 3 Años to one very lucky person participating in this competition.

The Competition

In order to enter the competition all you have to do is "Like" the Refined Vices and Havana Club Australia facebook pages and tell us in 25 words or less how you would enjoy Havana Club 3 Años.

All entries will be submitted through the Contact Us page, before you do that please click read more and have a look at the Terms and Conditions.

The competition starts today, the 9th of March 2012, ends on the 6th of April 2012 and will be open to current Australian residents 18 years of age and over.

The person with the best answer will win a bottle of Havana Club Añejo 3 Años.

Read more to find out how to enter the competition for your chance to win a bottle of Havana Club Añejo 3 Años.

Our friends at Master of Malt have decided to celebrate the Leap Year (in case you haven't noticed there are 29 days this month) by creating a special bottled concoction - the Secret Leap Year Cocktail. Generous as they are Master of Malt are also giving away a prize! Here's what they've got to say:

On the 29th February, for one day only, you'll be able to buy 20cl bottles of our Secret Leap Year Cocktail. After you've tasted this marvellous concoction, your challenge is to name the five ingredients used to make it.

The first correct answer will not only win a 20cl bottle of each of the seven vintage cocktails in our current range, you'll also have the opportunity to name the Leap Year cocktail for its official release in full-sized bottles, later in the year.

The seven cocktails in the range include The Manhattan, the Gin Martini, the Old Fashioned, the World's Best Cocktail, the Negroni, the Rob Roy, and the brand new Martinez cocktail.

The Angostura Global Cocktail Challenge will come to an end after a select few bartenders, out of the hundreds of participants around the world, will be given the chance to compete in the final battle for the ultimate title in Trinidad next month.

The Champion of the Angostura Global Cocktail Challenge will win a grand prize of 10,000 US dollars and a contract as Angostura's Global Brand Ambassador for the next 12 months.

In 2010 Bacardi celebrated the 100th Anniversary of the Bacardi Daiquiri, which also marked the launch of the Superior Heritage Limited Edition Rum produced to commemorate the event.

Now the spirits company has declared 2012 to be its most innovative year since the creation of BACARDI rum in 1862.

Throughout the year Bacardi will host one-of-a-kind birthday parties, launch special promotions around the world and introduce a $2,000 limited-edition bottling of Bacardi rum to celebrate the journey that has lasted for 150 years.

Members of the International Rum Experts Panel (RumXPs) dominated the nominations and the social media awards given out recently at the annual dinner ceremony that is part of the RumFest UK experience in London.

All the outstanding social media sites nominated for Golden Rum Barrel Awards -- and their respective writers, journalists and bloggers -- are members of a unique consortium of international judges of rum tasting competitions around the globe.

The awards, nominated by outstanding members of the spirits and beverage trade, recognize excellence in reporting and writing about developments in the category of rum throughout the world.

Nominations for Rum Blogger of the Year (Europe) 2011 included A Mountain of Crushed Ice (Helena Tiare Olsen, Sweden), The Floating Rum Shack (Peter and Pauline Holland, London), Rum Pages (Rene Van Hoven, Amsterdam) and Refined Vices (Tatu Kaarlas, Finland, now Australia).