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Golden Rum Barrel Awards 2016 Oct 27

Golden Rum Barrel Awards 2016

With 2016 being the 10th annual UK RumFest and a landmark year for the “world’s oldest and most famous Rum festival”, Ian Burrell and the Rum Experience team decided to bring back the Golden Rum Barrel Awards, sponsored this year by Green Engineering and with it I was honoured to be asked to be involved in this year’s judging panel.

So imagine my surprise to learn that not only was I one of the collective of judges for the first time, but that Rum.Charlosa was also one of the five nominees in the category for the Best UK Rum Website 2016. Now I remember sitting at the 2013 Golden Rum Barrel Awards, which also happened to be the last awards ceremony, watching A Mountain of Crushed Ice receive that year’s Rum Blogger of the Year award and saying to RumwiththeMrs that I’d be over the moon, if I was just shortlisted to be a nominee.

Golden Rum Barrel Awards 2016 Best UK Rum Website Nominees

Now, while I’ve been running this site for a number of years, I’d be lying if I tried to suggest that I’d been particularly prolific or even steady in putting out content of late, either on the site itself or over social media. However, I do try to keep abreast of my fellow bloggers and put out stuff were I can and express myself through my photography.

So I sat down with RumwiththeMrs and we voted accordingly, while trying to maintain a degree of impartiality by putting ourselves last, in our own category. So, bearing in mind the excellent company that we were keeping, with the other nominees:

I for one was content to know that we’d been nominated and that we’d simply have the opportunity to enjoy the evening, while mingling with the likes of Appleton Estate’s Joy Spence, Foursquare Rum’s Richard Seale, Jeff “Beachbum” Berry and Martin & Rebecca Cate of the Smuggler’s Cove over a 3 course meal with rum.

Golden Rum Barrel Awards 2016 - RumwiththeMrs with Appleton Estate's Joy Spence

As it happens, Rumbustious Times and The Fat Rum Pirate were unfortunately unable to attend the awards ceremony, but we did get to sit on the same table as our other friends, the Rum Diaries Blog and The Floating Rum Shack, along with the Brand Consultant for Spirits Elite and Bacardi’s UK Brand Ambassador Metinee Kongsrivilai. So all in all a good night as far as I was concerned.

Golden Rum Barrel Awards 2016 Winners of Best UK Rum Website Award

Photo Courtesy of the Floating Rum Shack

So it’s fair to say that I wasn’t expecting what happened next when they announced the winner of the Best UK Rum Website 2016.

We won… And to top that, I was even presented with the award by the lovely Joy Spence.

Rum heaven… I’m still in shock several days later as I write this

Now the only problem with attending an awards ceremony, that you’ve been nominated in, but with no expectation of winning, is that you rarely practice any kind of speech. So you can only hope that you don’t make a fool of yourself when you do have to talk. As such I kept mine short – at least that seemed to go down well…

What wasn’t so great though in hindsight, was that I forgot to thank my lovely Wife for all her support and patience over the years with this hobby of mine. Therefore, I think it only fitting that I say a huge thank you to my RumwiththeMrs and what better way for a blogger to say it, than via a website available for everyone (of responsible drinking age) to see.

Despite forgetting to thank her though, RumwiththeMrs made it quite clear that she was proud as rum punch of the achievement- she shouted it from the top of Facebook. Thank you my Wife 😀

I’d also like to thank my fellow nominees for their graciousness and genuine congratulations – that’s among the reasons why I consider them such excellent people to know and spend time with as friends.

Lastly, I’d also like to thank both Ian Burrell for being such an amazing representative for rum and for giving us not only the UK RumFest, but also the Golden Rum Barrel Awards and also the entire judging panel for their votes. We’re aware it was a close run thing, but between which nominees we were unable to ascertain. And as corny as it might sound, simply being nominated made us all winners in my mind.

Golden Rum Barrel Awards 2016 Best UK Rum Website Award

The full list of category nominees and the respective winners for the 2016 Golden Rum Barrel Awards are:

Most Influential Rum Blender over the last 10 years
Joy Spence (Appleton Rums, Jamaica) – Winner
Alexandre Gabriel (Plantation Rum, France)
Juan Gavito Sanchez (Bacardi, México)
Tito Cordero (Diplomático Rum, Venezuela)
Nestor Ortega (Santa Teresa, Venezuela)

Distillery Ambassador over past 10 years 
John Georges (Angostura Distillery, Trinidad) – Winner
Jose Sanchez Gavito (Bacardi, Mexico)
Joy Spence (Appleton Estate, Jamaica)
Richard Seale (Foursquare Distillery, Barbados)
Roberto Serralles (Serralles Distillery, Puerto Rico)

Most Influential Rum bar in the UK over past 10 years 
Trailer Happiness (London) – Winner
Mahiki (London)
Mojo’s (Leeds)
Mojo’s (Manchester)
The Liars Club, Manchester

International Rum Brand Ambassador 2016 
Alexx Mouzouris (Don Q Rum) – Winner
Daniyel Jones (Angostura Rum)
Dickie Cullimore (Bacardi Rum)
Meimi Sanchez (Havana Club)
Miguel Smith (Mount Gay Rum)

UK Rum Brand Ambassador 2016 
George Frost (Duppy Share) – Winner
Jon Lister (Diplomatico Rum)
Jonathan Almonte (Botran Rum)
Metinee Kongsrivilai (Bacardi Rum portfolio)
Sean Duprey (House of Angostura)

Rum Bar Team of the year 2016 
Mahiki, London – Winner
Trailer Happiness, London
The Merchant House, London
Rum & Sugar, London
The Liars Club, Manchester

Best UK Rum Web Site 2016
Rum Charlosa – Winner
Rumbustious Times
Rum Diaries Blog
The Fat Rum Pirate
TheFloatingRumShack.com

Best New Rum Brand in the UK 2016
Foursquare 2006 Single Blended Rum – Winner
Don Q Signature release 2005
Nine Leaves Rum Angel’s Half French Oak Cask
Velier Hampden Jamaica 2010
Wild Tiger Rum
Foursquare 11 year Zinfandel Cask

Rum Influencer of the Year 2016
Luca Gargano (Velier Rums, and Ambassador of Pure rums) – Winner
Federico Hernandez (Midwest & California Rum Fests)
Martin Cate (Smuggler’s Cove voted Best bar in USA)
Richard Seale (Foursquare Distillery)
Jeff Beachbum Berry (Tiki Historian, Author and Latitude 29 Bar owner)

Rum Menu of the Year 2016
Cubana (Sheffield) – Winner
Rum & Sugar (London)
Rum Kitchen (London)
The Merchant House (London)

Boutique RumFest Brand of the Year
Nine Leaves – Japan – Winner

Consumer’s Favourite Rum
Diplomatico rums – Venezuela – Winner

And last but not least Ian Burrell was himself presented with an engraved glass hip flask by Richard Seale, in celebration of all that he has done for the category of rum. I believe that the engraved message read as “To the great ambassador and an even better friend”. It was a wonderfully fitting end to a great night.

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My Plantation Gran Añejo Rum Journey Oct 03

A few weeks ago I commented on a FB posting of a BBC article about a guy going off on a Rum Journey to track down a legendary Jamaican Rum. It appears that the author, Nick Davis, traipsed high and low around Jamaica like a Canadian Mountie to find his rum. And like any good Mountie, he found his Rum. Now I can appreciate the idea of an adventure, especially when it involves rum and therefore I finished my comment with:

 Personally I like the idea of going on a Rum Journey 🙂

So move forward to last week when an oft-trodden trip to the Whisky Exchange in London to pick up some supplies, started my own Rum Journey.

Plantation Gran Añejo RumOf late in the Charlosa household, Plantation Gran Añejo Guatemala Rum had become the go-to rum for the other half of #RumwiththeMrs. Having all of the qualities of one of Mrs Charlosa’s favourite but somewhat more expensive rums from the same country, but for almost half the price, maintaining a supply of Gran Añejo has always been a bit of a no-brainer. So with the previously purchased bottle lasting no more than a few weeks, I set off to pick up a couple of replacement bottles.

To my surprise, they only had the one bottle left on the shelf. However an even bigger surprise was just around the corner, because when I asked when more stock would be due in, it was pointed out that the Plantation Gran Añejo had changed; that the bottle in my hand was the new blend and that the old “family favourite” had been discontinued with no stock left…

So here was a dilemma; was the last bottle that I’d bought and we’d enjoyed, like there was no tomorrow, the old blend or the new one. You’d think I’d know, but considering I was holding a bottle in my hands and I hadn’t even noticed the difference on the label, how could I remember about the bottle that we’d already put in the recycling bin and had been taken away the day before…

So now my challenge was to try and track down some old stock so at least I could do a taste comparison, both for my own blogging purposes, but also to know whether Mrs Charlosa was going to be happy with the new blend or whether we’d need to find her a new go-to rum for her Rum & Diet Coke’s. And so begun my own Adventurous Plantation Gran Añejo Rum Journey.Gerry's 4th Limited Edition Plantation Rum Guatemala Ice Wine Cask

Now I do wish that this adventure involved a trip to the home of Plantation Rum: Maison Ferrand’s Château de Bonbonnet in the Charentais region of France or even to Guatemala to visit the Industrias Licoreras de Guatemala which is where the rum is originally produced, but that’s not to say that this little adventure wasn’t without peril. So from the confines of my desk I surfed the web looking for alternative suppliers carrying stock.

Despite indicating that the Gran Añejo was out of stock at Gerry’s Wines and Spirits I figured what harm could come of phoning them to confirm. While I may not have lost life or limb, my wallet ended up being lighter following that call. See, it turned out that the Gerry’s 4th Limited Edition Plantation Rum had arrived in that day and it was rum from Guatemala that had been aged for nine months in an Ice Wine Cask. So with my arm twisted I made the perilous journey through the jungle that is the West End of London on a Thursday evening in search of the colourful region that is Old Compton Street. While I may not have found the MacGuffin of my quest, I had in the meantime found something equally valuable. The Gerry’s Limited Plantation Rum’s are highly sort after treasures and with it being Guatemalan Rum and only 450 bottles to the cask I’d struck gold with this find. But I still didn’t have my Plantation Gran Añejo Guatemala Rum…

However, there’s a part to this tale that hasn’t been told yet. Shortly after coming off the phone from Gerry’s I’d called The Drink Shop to check whether the stock that they had listed was the new or the old blend. So after taking a yonder through the warehouse to grab a bottle, the customer services maiden was able to confirm that it had only the word Guatemala written in the red strip on the bottle. So having indicated that I was after two bottles, it turned out that there were just three bottles left. How could I in good conciseness leave one of those little fellows by itself. So after the little ones faced the perils of the courier service, travelling thousands of metres from the depths of Kent to the City of London, it would appear that my adventure is nearly at an end.

I say nearly, because now that I have both the new and old blends of Plantation Gran Añejo Rum, I need to open them up and compare them. But that’s a bedtime story for another day…