London Cocktail Week (6th-12th October) heralds the start of a glittering week of activity for the award-winning El Dorado Rum, which will culminate in a series of master classes and tutored tastings at RumFest at Earls Court on Sunday 12th October.
El Dorado will also be working with Trailer Happiness, one of London’s most Tiki-Tastic bars, where a rum and food pairing event will take place, and Harvey Nichols, who will be offering a twist on the 16th Century version of a Mojito, the El Draque, named after Sir Francis Drake.
Beginning on Monday 6th October, El Dorado will be hosting its first ever Pop-up in the basement of 71 Monmouth Street just off Seven Dials, where guests will be invited to discover the legendary Lost City of Gold.
Voted the world’s best rum a record eight times, guests will take a journey through the rainforests of Guyana, the home of El Dorado rum, where they’ll see and hear the sights and sounds of the lush, tropical surroundings which are indicative of the South American country. They’ll take in the expanse of Kaieteur Falls, the highest single drop waterfall in the world, as they delve deeper into the greenery to find the luscious, liquid gold of El Dorado rums.
Cocktails made with El Dorado’s superb range of rums will be available along with the opportunity to sample tasting flights of the El Dorado range. A planned series of sessions will be hosted by Stefanie Holt, the award winning international brand ambassador for El Dorado Rums, at the Pop-up over the week. Tickets are available from the London Cocktail Week website – http://londoncocktailweek.ticketsource.co.uk/ . The sessions are as follows:
- Tuesday 7th October – 7pm until 8.30pm. El Dorado Rum and Chocolate Pairing.
- Wednesday 8th October from 7 until 8.30pm. El Dorado Rum and Savoury Pairing.
- Thursday 9th October from 7pm until 8.30pm. El Dorado 25 Year Old Rum Tasting.
- Friday 10th October from 7pm until 8.30pm. El Dorado Single Barrel Rum Tasting.
Saturday 11th October from 2pm until 3.30pm. The last of the sessions at the Pop-up. Here’s a chance to put your taste buds to the test and put the information you’ve learnt over the week, into practice. The last session is ‘Guess the Rum’ – a blind tasting competition. Think you know the El Dorado range? Pop in to the Pop-up and blind test three rums from the El Dorado range. You’ll be up against the clock but it’s worth it – a bottle of El Dorado 15 Year Old will be awarded to the person who guesses correctly in the quickest time.
Harvey Nichols Fifth Floor Bar will be offering a cocktail made with El Dorado 5 Year Old to those with a London Cocktail Week Wristband for only £4 over the course of the week. For those without a wristband, the cocktail is £5.50. The Golden Draque, created by Harvey Nichols’ bar manager, Ivan Romano, takes inspiration from the El Draque, named after Sir Francis Drake and thought to be the 16th Century version of the Mojito. The Golden reference is a nod to El Dorado – meaning gold in English- which is used in the cocktail Here’s how to make it:
GOLDEN DRAQUE
Ingredients:
50 ml El Dorado 5 Year Old
25 ml Roasted pineapple and coffee bean puree*
25 ml freshly squeezed lime juice
8 mint leaves
15ml gomme syrup
20 ml soda water
*To make the roasted pineapple and coffee bean puree, cut one pineapple into cubes, add 50 gram of coffee beans and cook into an oven on low heat for 12 hours. Remove and discard the coffee bean sand blend the pineapple cubes for three minutes until you get a creamy puree.
Garnish: Mint dusted in gold and coffee beans
Method: Gently muddle the mint with the sugar and lime juice. Add the puree and El Dorado and crushed ice. Stir together and top up with soda water.
The rum fun doesn’t stop there. Trailer Happiness in Notting Hill will be offering a selection of three cocktails made with El Dorado Rum, which will be available for £4 to those with a London Cocktail Week Wristband. They are also hosting at Rum Club Food Pairing with El Dorado rum which will be hosted by Stefanie Holt on Monday 6th October from 7.30-8.30pm. Tickets cost £5 and can be purchased from the London Cocktail Week website http://londoncocktailweek.ticketsource.co.uk/ .
About London Cocktail Week
Back for the fifth year, London Cocktail Week – the biggest drinks festival in the UK – is just around the corner. From Monday 6 to Sunday 12 October 2014 get ready to shake, sip and party your way to a fantastic celebration of our capital’s unrivalled cocktail culture.
To be part of London Cocktail Week 2014, festival-goers must buy a wristband, which cost just £10 if booked in advance or £15 once the week begins. Wristbands give access to the huge amount of free sampling and cocktail demonstrations, as well as the renowned self-guided Cocktail Tours; with 250 of the best bars across the capital throwing open their doors to offer bespoke and unlimited cocktails for just £4 all week. Each bar will be mapped out in your FREE London Bar Guide, so there will be no problem navigating around.
The LCW experience starts from wristband collection at one of the London Cocktail Week Hubs from 12noon until 9pm; hives of activity guaranteed to get you into the cocktail spirit. Each Hub has their own unique twist and is placed in the epicentres of the main bar areas– be sure to set aside four evenings to visit them all!