In pure Trinidadian style, Adelaide played host to bright evening of entertainment as Simon Sleep of Beach hot spot Palais swept the field to claim the title of State Champion after Monday night’s South Australian Final.

Close behind was Nittin Terari from The Stamford, who stands in contention to receive a wild card entry to the National Final.

31st August 2011 saw the second state final of the Angostura Cocktail Challenge at the Byblos Bar & Restaurant on Melbourne's scenic riverside.

Finalists had gathered from all over the state to compete for the spot in the upcoming National Final. Familiar faces from local establishments such as Black Pearl were also seen behind the bar.

The celebration was held on 6th of June in the usual place, located on the busy restaurant filled Hardware Lane where an impressive amount of Rum Club members and professionals of the hospitality industry gathered for a good time.

The Mount Gay Estate is one of the oldest estates in the Caribbean, and definitely the oldest on Barbados. Many believe rum has been produced on the estate as early as 1663, which is the year William Sandiford bought the estate.

The estate included a still that was capable of producing rum, but the only legal and the oldest written evidence of rum production in the estate is from 1703, making Mount Gay the oldest rum producer in the world.

The estate lies in the northernmost parish of Barbados, St. Lucy and was originally called Mount Gilboa but renamed to Mount Gay in 1801 to honour Sir John Gay Alleyne, who had been appointed manager of the distillery in 1747 when the owner John Sober purchased the 280 acre plantation from William Sandiford.

Since the early 1900s, the Mount Gay estate has belonged to the Ward family who introduced new methods in increasing rum production while maintaining the old traditions of rum making.

Today the Ward family are still involved with Mount Gay Distillers, and you can find the signature of Aubrey Ward adorning every bottle of the old style of Mount Gay Rum. Why it was not included in the new design of Mount Gay is a mystery yet to be revealed.

May 2nd Golden Monkey - Every now and then my local Rum Club comes up with something a little different to the usual rum tasting seminars that is both innovative and an interactive way to present a product to the rum connoisseurs and hobbyists alike.

The standard releases, Eclipse and Extra Old from Mount Gay Rum, 'the rum that invented rum’, have been around in the Australian market for a long time as the only two choices. However, a new blend from Mount Gay called '1703' was recently introduced around the world as the new super premium class rum which continues to receive positive feedback globally.

Not long ago the range expanded again with the addition of a new white rum, the Silver Eclipse, which is also now distributed across Australia and is intended as a mixer for premium cocktails.

Sunday the 8th of May saw the opening of a Tiki exhibition at the Kustom Lane Gallery in Hawthorn and I had got word about some rum and tiki thing happening at the show.

I was sold after rum was mentioned and I've been known to even brave the weather for a dram... but wait a second, what does an art show have anything to do with rum?!

Usually nothing and in most cases you're likely to be served sparkling or Champagne but in this instance Appleton Estate had sponsored the event, and considering their history and close ties to all things Tiki I thought it was a great idea.

When you first step inside the Black Pearl you immediately feel right at home, drawn in by the warm, relaxed interior design and welcomed by the friendly staff member behind the bar.

I waste no time and walk straight to the bar to order a drink. While waiting, I notice a few familiar faces from the Melbourne bar scene as well as international visitors.

Most unexpectedly I bumped into a friend I’d made at the Rum Fest in London last year. It was one of those surprising ‘hey, I know you!’ moments.

The word of the evening’s special event we had arrived for had definitely been passed around.

It was the arrival of Lorena Vasquez, the master blender of Ron Zacapa, that had attracted us all to the Black Pearl and not only that it was the launch of a cool new section upstairs at the Black Pearl, appropriately named the Attic.