the sydney rum club made a much anticipated return last Monday, at Surry Hills' latest Caribbean restaurant and rum bar Jonkanoo, featuring a tasting of the full line of Mount Gay rums including their latest release, Mount Gay Black Barrel.
Black Barrel was launched in Australia around this time last year and to some of my international friends' dismay, only recently in the UK.
next stop, moscow! Tuesday March 4 at The Mint aka the Rum Hospital Fred Siggins of Black Pearl took home the crown at the Bacardi Legacy Cocktail Competition National Finals with his Empire of Dreams cocktail.
A combination of Bacardi Superior Rum, pineapple juice, apricot brandy, Crawley's orgeat syrup and fresh lime juice shaken over fresh coffee beans. A delicious concoction indeed.
"Do you remember as a child, rabidly clawing open Advent Calendar doors to get to the chocolate-y goodness within? What if, as an adult, you could regain that festive excitement?"
I remember, and I also remember the first time Master of Malt announced their Whisky Advent Calendar, an absolutely spiffing idea, might I say, and a great way for me to relive my childhood... in an adult and perhaps in a slightly more responsible way.
Earlier this year I was privileged to be invited to an exclusive launch event with Facundo Bacardi and the Master Blender Manny Oliver, together with several other Rum Experts from the International Rum Expert Panel.
The event was held at the Bath Club in Miami where we participated in an exclusive luxury dinner and a tasting of the new Facundo range of rums, named after the company founder.
For the first time in its five year history the Bacardi Legacy Cocktail Competition will enter Australia, challenging local bartenders to create a cocktail that aims to reflect the 150-year-old legacy of the Bacardi brand, a drink that will stand the test of time and become a true classic.
With the Angostura Global Cocktail Challenge looming around the corner, bartenders over here in Australia have begun the preparations for the State Finals that are due to start soon, with the National Finals not far behind. The winner of the National Finals in Sydney will receive $10,000 in cash, $5,000 worth of stock for the venue and will be flown to compete in Trinidad in the Global Final!
Having just introduced cocktails, in a world first, to the Antarctic, the Rum Experience University is the latest venture of Ian Burrell, the organiser of the annual UK Rum Experience, and promises to educate students in rum in an in depth five-day course in Spain.
The course is meant for anyone wanting to earn a living within the rum or spirits industry, such as bartenders, aspiring brand ambassadors and even bloggers and will entail everything from production methods of rum to barrel making to mixology to tasting and blending rum.
Want to see how rum is produced at the Clément and J.M distilleries on Martinique? Then check out these two inspirational videos taking you through the beautiful surrounding nature and culture to the distilleries where the juice is extracted by crushing the sugar cane, fermented, distilled, aged and bottled.
May 25, it is a Saturday afternoon at the newly renovated Whisky and Alement, formerly known as Chez Regine, with the staff busy preparing glasses and snacks for the Whiskey and Beer pairing about to start. I've arrived a little early with Linus Schaxmann setting up his laptop for the presentation, we're still waiting for everyone else to show up.
Meanwhile I have a look around the new bar and it really looks fantastic with all the tasting glasses set perfectly on their pre-allocated spots reserved for about 30 people.