The ID2T crew is all about having a good time and raising our glasses to life which entails among over things a lot of drinking.  While I’ve drunk a lot of rum in my time, and by a lot I do mean a lot, I am not quite the rum expert I aspire to be unless drinking countless mojitos from the rooftop of the Gansevoort in Miami to las calles de Havana, Cuba counts as being an expert, so I was very excited when I heard about the 4^th Annual Miami Rum Renaissance Festival.  I thought to myself “What a great way to drink rum and learn about rum at the same time. I’ll drink to that!”

The annual festival is the world’s largest gathering of everything rum.  Thousands of people travel to the festival every year including rum professionals, rum experts, and rum enthusiasts.  The event was held at the beautiful Deauville Beach Resort and while the week of events, held from April 16-22, 2012, includes everything from seminars and lectures, VIP parties, cocktail contests, and even tiki competitions; I figured I would focus my efforts and research on the Grand Rum tasting event which takes place on Saturday and Sunday.  I mean who wants to hear a lecture about rum when you can be drinking it.

I showed up full of excitement and ready to learn, but walking into the exhibition hall I was a bit overwhelmed.  Luckily, the Jamaican based Appleton Estate rum booth greeted me upon entry.   

Since I am very familiar with this brand, I decided it was a great place to start.   I graciously accepted a glass of rum to sip on and tried to get my bearings.  This rum fest is serious business…rows of booths, hundreds of rums to taste, awards being presented, and a lot to take in!  I needed a game plan, so I took my time and started my lesson.  I actually initially avoided some of the well-known brands and sought out tasting a few unique brands that I was not familiar with.

The next thing you know I was sipping on a few different rums, learning a lot about light v. dark v. spiced, the age of rums from 4 to 5 to 18 years, and discovering that there are many excellent rums made around the world from Venezuela (the Diplomatico Reserva Exclusivo is smooth and yummy with a little heat), Trinidad (I had a great mojito made with 12 year old  Zaya Gran Reserva), Haiti (Pango Rhum was full of fruit flavors like pineapple and mango), and Dominican Republic (I enjoyed a Atlantico Smash, made with muddled strawberries, mint, a bit of agave, citrus and bitters and top with the Enrique Iglesias owned Atlantico blanco rum), to even right here in Florida.  

By the end of my first round (pardon the pun), I was glad I had invited backup, i.e., my drinking buddy and assistant for the day, Blythe.   By the time she arrived I was admittedly a little tipsy, but I was drinking with a passion to learn.  She joined me and I continued my tasting crusade.  Here is a brief rundown of a few of the over 20 or so rums we tried…

Flor de Cana began its history with its first distillery in Nicaragua starting in 1890.  They have eight varieties and this rum is now Central America’s leading rum. Plus, the Flor de Caña booth had the cutest girls.  We tried the 18 year old centenario gold, the longest aged rum in the product line, which was smooth, sweet, and rich.

10cane  is a premium white rum.  It is a newer brand distilled in Trinidad and started by Moet Hennessey in 2005.  They have branded it as the World’s Best Rum and honestly it definitely was one of the best I tasted.  We truly enjoyed the “10cane Passion” made with 10cane mixed with passion fruit juice, sprite over ice and topped off with a slice of jalapeno.  You can almost taste the pure sugarcane fresh from the fields of Trinidad that go into this amazing rum.   

Chairman’s Reserve spiced rum had hints of cocoa, cinnamon, cloves, orange, and spice and was amazing.  We met Clyde Davis, Jr., one of the founders of Team Spirits Imports Company, LLC, which imports the Chairman’s Reserve from St. Lucia.  The Company founded in 2002 is one of only a few independent importers.

My absolute favorite rum of the day was the Siesta Key spiced rum made in Sarasota, Florida at Drum Circle Distilling.  I met Tom and Troy who started the company just five years ago in 2007.  Their passion which led to them starting the company was awe-inspiring and they were two really cool guys.  The product line includes light rum, dark rum, and the spiced rum.  Not only was the spiced rum my favorite, but later in the day it won 1^st place in the spiced rum category at the Festival.  One thing I learned at festival is that I obviously have good taste in rums.

We also tried the Botran, Dos Maderas, Zafra, Brugal, Vizcaya, Plantation, Flip Flop, and many more that I can’t even remember.  We met David Sid, the brand ambassador for Bacardi, who poured us Bacardi reserve straight from the barrel with a thief.  Bacardi, which is celebrating its 150^th year of starting parties, just introduced the Bacardi Rock Coconut to their flavored rum product line.  It is one of the best known rums, is definitely classic, and is still the standard.