The Caribbean’s most famous rum celebration, the Caribbean Rum Awards, is heading to the island of St. Barth in 2020. The third edition of the awards competition will take place on November 10th to the 15th, 2020. That same week, St. Barth’s Gourmet Festival will delight locals and visitors with traditional yet gourmet Caribbean cuisine.
The Caribbean Rum Awards 2020 is a collaboration between Caribbean Journal and the Saint Barth Rum Festival. It will take place at the Rhum Room and the Quarter Kitchen and Cocktail Lab in Gustavia, St. Barth’s capital city. The Rhum Room has the biggest selection of rum of any bar in the Caribbean.
“We are excited to come back to St Barth for the 2020 edition of the Caribbean Rum Awards,” said Alexander Britell, editor and publisher of Caribbean Journal. “St Barth is the natural home for an event focused on the most exclusive, artisanal rums from the Caribbean.”
What are the Caribbean Rum Awards?
The Caribbean Rum Awards will include a rum expo, in which Caribbean distillers can provide samples of their products to consumers. Festival goers can also enjoy rum-and-cocktail dinners at Quarter Kitchen & Cocktail Lab, a ti’ punch workshop and happy hour. In addition, there will be a blind-tasting competition with seven different categories. At night, guests can enjoy a special VIP after-party at the Rhum Room.
This year’s edition of the awards took place from November 6th to 9th, also in St. Barth. Rum giants Ron Del Barrilito Five-Star; Don Q Reserva de la Familia Serralles; Havana Club Maximo; Brugal Papa Andres; and El Dorado 25 all competed for the top spots in various categories. The Don Q Reserva de la Familia Serralles eventually took Double Gold in the Ultra-Premium Category after several rounds. Rhum A1710 took Double Gold for its Renaissance rum in the Rhum Blanc – Martinique category. Seven international rum judges teamed together to decide on a winner.
The first ever Caribbean Rum Awards took place in St. Lucia in 2018. For more information or to attend this year’s event, email rum@caribjournal.com or Hello@25sbh.com.
About Caribbean Rum
There’s a reason why rum is so popular in the Caribbean. Its main ingredient is sugar cane, an important Caribbean export for hundreds of years. The drink is made by fermenting and distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. This distillate is then aged in oak barrels.
Rum is most-often produced in sugar-making countries, like the Caribbean, the Philippines, and India. It plays a large part in Caribbean culture, and was first made on sugarcane plantations there in the 17th century. Slave workers were the ones who actually discovered that fermenting molasses produces rum. Historians believe that this process first took place on the island of Nevis in the early 1600s.
Spanish-speaking Caribbean countries call it ron, while rhum describes rum made from fresh sugar cane juice, as opposed to rum made from molasses. In addition, some people in the Caribbean refer to it as Nelson’s blood, kill-devil, demon water, pirate’s drink, navy neaters, and Barbados water. Tafia is a low-grade type of rum from the Caribbean.
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Main image credit: Getty Images
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