A Real Rum Experience in London
It’s perfect timing – the weather is just starting to sneakily turn freezing in London. Skies are still blue, but the minute you get out of bed you realise it was all a ruse: in fact, winter is well on the way. So, for those who wish to pretend otherwise and to imagine they’re back on their summer holidays, there is the UK Rumfest.
The UK Rumfest (Oct 15-16) is a chance for Brits to combine two things they love doing: drinking and pretending it’s not really that cold. Taking place in Olympia 2, the second of the vast exhibition centres at Kensington, Rumfest is a chance to try hundreds of different rums from all over the world (well, okay, most of it comes from Latin America and the Caribbean) neat or in the form of delicious cocktails, all the while being entertained by music, dancing and girls in Brazilian carnival outfits (because let’s face it, that works anywhere).
More to the point, it’s educational, honest. The festival celebrates the diversity of rum, and there are seminars on how to make it, how to mix it, the different variations, the history and everything else rum-related that you can image. Oh, and there are hundreds of samples. So it’s educational fun.
This is a very British event, considering it’s celebrating a drink which is neither from Britain nor traditionally drunk here. People come from outside the city to celebrate the miracle that is rum, and the event gets very full of enthusiastic drinkers taking advantage of some of the most random rum-mixing scenarios. 2010’s Rumfest saw the creation of the world’s biggest Piña Colada (served in more of a vat than a glass), churned in a cement mixer. 2009 saw the creativity stretch to making a cocktail in a coffin. The imagination at work is a beautiful thing.
Entrance fees are either steep or ludicrously cheap, depending on how much you plan on drinking the free samples. In advance, tickets are £22. On the door, £25. They include 5 rum sample vouchers, a Barcardi Daiquiri voucher and a glass, and you can buy further vouchers for £1 each. Bear in mind you can try some really unusual and often very expensive rums here. When you consider that a bog-standard rum and coke in a nearby bar will set you back about £6, that’s a positive bargain. If you fancy going all the way, you can get a VIP ticket which costs £40 and includes all sorts of magical-sounding things such as the Rum and Chocolate Master Class, Caribbean Canapes, Cocktails from Appleton Jamaica Rum, Rum Tasting Master Class along with fast-track entry and VIP room entry.
Olympia 2 is accessed from Kensington Olympia tube station – it’s right outside. Rumfest 2011 is taking place on Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th October, both days from midday until 6pm.
http://rumfest.co.uk
Olympia 2, Hammersmith Road, Kensington, London W14 8UX