Sponsored by Coca-Cola Signature Mixers and featuring masterclasses, seminars and over 400 rums to sip and savour

Trade Show & Conference – Friday 18th October
Consumer Show – Saturday 19th & Sunday 20th October 2019
London’s ILEC, Earl’s Court
rumfest.co.uk

With this weekend having coincided with National Rum Day, what better time is there to remind you that the UK RumFest is returning this October to the capital for the nation’s biggest celebration of rum and rum culture.

Last year, RumFest saw over 2,500 visitors descend on London’s Earl’s Court to see some of the biggest names and the most exciting newcomers in the industry. This year promises to be just as impressive. Taking place on Friday 18th October, The RumFest Trade Show & Conference will see new and boutique rum brands showcasing their products to industry professionals, buyers and key decision makers from influential retailers, whilst a panel of experts will be discussing ‘Understanding Rum GI’s, Appellations & PDO’s’ at the third annual RumFest Conference. Registration for the RumFest Trade Show & Conference is open here.

The following day, RumFest’s consumer show will open its doors, welcoming rum bars, brands, mixologists and master blenders, who’ll be presenting a series of workshops, seminars, tastings and demonstrations over two days on 19th and 20th October. The festival, sponsored by Coca-Cola Signature Mixers, will feature over 400 of the most diverse rums from across the globe, all under one roof. There’ll also be food from the Heart & Soul food buffet, and entertainment and dance during the RumFest Carnival hour. For more information and tickets, visit rumfest.co.uk.

The RumFest Trade Show & Conference is the UK’s premier event for professionals in the industry, having provided a platform for emerging, independent and boutique rum brands for well over a decade. The show welcomes some of the biggest names in rum, as well as wholesalers, distributors, buyers and importers for an impressive series of masterclasses, tastings, discussions and debates on some of the hottest topics and biggest issues facing the industry today. This year, head sponsors of RumFest and the RumFest Trade Show & Conference, Coca-Cola Signature Mixers, will be presenting a seminar during the show.

Building on its longstanding reputation as the original mixer, Coca-Cola Signature Mixers are a global first for the brand. Enlisting some of the world’s most influential and innovative mixologists they created four new crafted Coca-Cola Signature Mixers, specifically designed to be paired with premium dark spirits. At Rum Fest 2019, visitors will have the chance to experience each of the four Signature Mixers and attend a free tasting masterclass. In addition, Global Rum Ambassador, Ian Burrell, will be curating a bespoke highball menu pairing the signature mixers with premium rums.

Ana Amura, Senior Brand Manager at Coca-Cola Great Britain, comments:

“As the original mixer, Coca-Cola has always had a history with dark spirits and with the rise of quality mixed drinks, we’re really excited about the launch of Coca-Cola Signature Mixers. There is clearly a demand for quality cocktails and it’s great to be at this year’s RumFest to open up the world of mixology to an even wider audience.”

For the following two days, RumFest’s consumer show will take over the ILEC Conference Centre at London’s Earl’s Court, for an extensive showcase of all things rum. There’ll be brand-led seminars from Mount Gay, Plantation, Worthy Park, Foursquare and more, with samples and tastings coming from Foursquare Exceptional casks, Velier Rums, Rum Java, Daylark 1863, Black Tears Cuban Spiced Rum, Doorlys, Mezan, Appleton Estate, Real McCoy, Mount Gay Rum, Depaz, Green Island Rhums from Mauritius, St Nicholas Abbey and Hampden Estate, amongst others.

RumFest Founder & Global Rum Ambassador, Ian Burrel, said:

“Premium Rum has seen incredible growth in the UK over the past few years as consumer learn about the various styles of rum on offer and how to appreciate them. The UK RumFest, since 2007, has been a major contributor to the rise and we are proud to continue educating Rum lovers from across the globe in our 13th year”

The festival will feature over 400 rums to be sipped, savoured and enjoyed in cocktails. This includes an impressive number of the world’s most exclusive rums, which can be sampled with Golden Tot Tokens, the event’s exclusive currency. It will be the first time these super premium rums can be sampled in the UK.

New to the festival this year is the Craft RumFest, showing traditionally made rums. Open to all ticket-holders over the course of the weekend, its purpose is to encourage rum enthusiasts to identify and understand the style of rum they are sipping. All spirits being presented will meet strict criteria, including being 100% pot distilled or distilled in traditional single or double column, and having no additional flavours or spices.

Also exhibiting over the weekend are a number of rum bars – including award-winning tropical tiki bar, Laki Kane and Retro, Polynesian cocktail bar, Trailer Happiness – who’ll be introducing their ‘star-tenders’ to mix show-stopping signature serves.

Elsewhere during the festival, ticket-holders will be able to place bids at the Rum Auction, for premium rums priced from £150 – £3500. There will also be food available throughout the show courtesy of the Heart & Soul food buffet, and entertainment and dancing during the festival’s Carnival hour.

Registration for the RumFest Trade Show & Conference Day is now open to members of the trade and press. To register, please visit http://rumfest.co.uk/boutique-rumfest-registration/

RumFest standard tickets are now on sale from £42.50, which includes access to all areas of the event and tasting from all exhibitors.

Press Release

Manchester’s first ever rum festival is coming to town this year, thanks to freelance drinks curator Dave Marsland, aka the Drinks Enthusiast.

Located at Revolución De Cuba, the festival will be held on Saturday 3rd June, and will boast over 40 types of rum including Bacardi, Chairman’s Reserve, Diplomático, Sailor Jerry and Mezan. Brunches, afterparties and shenanigans galore will mean it’ll be a Caribbean affair from dusk ’til dawn.

Tickets cost £15 for the festival (brunches and afterparties not included) which runs from 12pm-5pm, and include a welcome drink by sponsor Coco Re’al, along with a taster from each of the 15 stalls as you work your way round exploring the top brands.

And if that’s not enough booze for you, a team of mixologists and brand ambassadors will be on hand at the cocktail bar serving up a selection of rum cocktail favourites.*

Dave Marsland said “Rum is a staple within the Manchester bar scene, especially with the popularity of venues such as Revolución De Cuba, so I wanted to celebrate it! There’s so many incredible rum brands I felt the best way to celebrate them would be with a festival.

The festival will host entertainment, themed food and drinks offers and gifts, so we really are going all out, plus there’ll be events running throughout the day to get everyone in Manchester involved. I’m just looking forward to meeting guests on the day and seeing how popular the already much-loved brands become.”

Details for brunches and afterparties and further rum promotions will be announced soon, but here’s how to purchase your ticket to the main festival – www.manchesterrumfestival.com/whats-on

*Prices not included in ticket, this is a normal bar operation.

With a week and half to go until this year’s UK RumFest, what can you expect of your day out immersing yourself in all things rum? Well for starters, Rum and a lot of it.

It may sound obvious, but with so many rum producers exhibiting at the show and with most of them having more than one expression of rum available, for those who have never been before, if can be quite an overwhelming experience as to how much rum there is to choose from on the day.

This year’s exhibitors list includes: Angostura Rum, Appleton Estate Rum, Banks Rum, Blackwell Rum, Bristol Classic Rum, Chairman’s Reserve Rum, Cruzan Rum, Don Papa Rum, DonQ Rum, Doorly’s Rum, El Dorado Rum, English Harbour Rum, Gosling’s Rum, Green Island Rum, Koko Kanu, Lamb’s Rum, Mount Gay Rum, Mount Gilboa Rum, Old Grog Rum, Pink Pigeon Rum, Plantation Rum, Pusser’s Rum, Pyrat Rum, R St Barth, Ron Bacardi, Ron Barcelo, Ron Botran, Ron Brugal, Ron de Jeremy, Ron Diplomático, Ron Fortuna, Ron Zacapa, Rum Fire, St. Aubin Rum, St. Nicholas Abbey Rum, Toz Rum, Virgin Gorda Rum, Wray & Nephew Rum, XM Royal Rum

While some of this rum will be available in the form of cocktails, most will be provided in the form of 1cl tasters – all the better for being able to appreciate the flavour and character of the rum. For those of you who are not used to drinking spirits neat, the best piece of advise to be offered is pace yourself, drink plenty of water from the various water coolers dispersed around the show and follow the RumFest Etiquette Guidelines.

So what else can you look forward to? Well the UK RumFest describes itself as:

… an international celebration of rum & cane spirit. The Rum Experience prides itself on bringing together the finest rum, great food and a range of educating seminars and entertainment to make learning about rum both fun and stimulating.

From personal experience, this statement does truly sum up what to expect when visiting RumFest and it’s also fair to say that words alone cannot sum up the experience. Of course, if you don’t follow the advice given above, you might find it even harder to put anything into words the following day… So lets forget words for a moment and rely on the old adage of a picture paints a thousand words and check out the Rum@Charlosa Pinterest board for some photographic inspiration of some of the things to expect at RumFest.

And what of the great food, education and the fun mentioned above. Well it includes: live entertainment, such as Salsa, Soca, Reggae, Zouk and Samba; the Tropical Food Market; the Cooking Demonstration Stage (hosted by Chef Hasan de Four); Food and Rum Pairings; the chance to win holidays to the Caribbean and visit a real rum distillary; live cocktail demonstrations; cocktails to try from some of the UKs best mixologists; hundreds of rums to try and buy and several Rum Experience University Masterclasses conducted by industry experts and master blenders.

All being well you’re now sold on the idea of the rum, but which shores must you head to with a steady wind in search of this here pirate’s booty. Well, for the second year in the events history you can expect to set sail towards the ExCel Exhibition Centre on the northern quay of the Royal Victoria Dock in London Docklands. The nearest station is Custom House on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), which is served from either the Tower Gateway or Stratford lines through to Beckton.

The UK RumFest 2013 opens its doors at 12pm midday on Saturday 12th October, with last pours at 4.30pm and closes at 5pm. For those of you who either can’t make the Saturday or just love rum that much that you need to head back for a second day, you’ll be pleased to know that RumFest is also opening its doors for the same times on Sunday 13th October.

Now you know when and where to head for your rum, how much is this little expedition going to cost you to get there. Well RumFest tickets come in two flavours and cost £25 and £45 each day for the Rum Experience Ticket and the Connoisseur Cove Ticket respectively. For the serious rum lover, you can alternatively purchase a weekend Connoisseur Cove Ticket for £80, giving a saving of £10 over separate tickets for both days. All tickets are subject to a booking fee.

So what do you get for your money and which ticket should you go for. Well this will largely depend on what you’re interested in for the day. Both tickets will give you:

• The Rum Bars sampling 1cl tots in exchange for your tokens ( full sized cocktails will be on sale)

• Small selection of rum brands sampling 1cl tots in exchange for your tokens

• The Main Entertainment Stage

• Seminar Rooms

• Tropical Food Market stands selling hot and cold food

• Food Demonstration Stage hosted by Chef Hasan De Four

• 5 tasting sample tokens to exchange for 1cl sample and 50ml mini cocktail samples within the Rum Experience Area ( no more tokens will be available to purchase).

But only the Connoisseurs Cove tickets will also include:

• Entry to the Connoisseurs Cove with a selection of brands exhibiting their premium rums and serving 1cl samples (no drink tokens needed here)

And for those of you in the professional drinks trade, make sure you register for The Boutique RumFest, which runs alongside RumFest, for the opportunity to see and try many new brands and expressions, many of whom are looking for UK distribution.

So now you know what to expect, what are you waiting for, mark Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th October in your diary, head over to the UK RumFest 2013 Website and book your tickets now and make you so you finish London Cocktail Week with some serious rum fun.

Oh did I not mention it’s London Cocktail Week next week… You wait ages for a drinks event to turn up and then they all turn up at the same time – no wait, isn’t that meant to be buses… Anyway, make sure you also check out the London Cocktail Week website to help get you in the right spirit for the UK RumFest 2013.