Last week saw the annual Golden Rum Barrel Awards that took place at The Grange Hotel in Holborn, London.
It is one of the hottest events in the Rum drinking industry and we were lucky to have been invited for the 2nd year running so naturally polished our shoes, ironed our shirts and knotted our ties the best we could and off we went.
The drinks reception was held on the top floor terrace bar giving guest a chance to mingle and catch up following from a long day at Rumfest.
Guests were then invited to the main room for a 4 course dinner, drink, music and dancing (and that was before the Golden Rum Barrel Awards had even started)
Global Rum Ambassador Ian Burrell introduced and compared the evening with carnival dancers and Brazilian samba players to get us into the mood.
We were also lucky to have Mobo-nominated singer Delilah perform tracks such as ‘Go’ in an acoustic style for us.
But enough about how amazing the evening was to be there, now onto the awards and here are the winners in full.
CTC would like to take this opportunity to congratulate everyone nominated, and see you next year:
(If we have got any of the below wrong please let us know as we were intoxicated at the time so our notes could be wrong)
Rum Blender of the Year
Alexandre Gabriel, (founder of Cognac Ferrand in France), for his work on Plantation rums
Best new White Rum
Plantation 3 Stars, made with rums from Barbados, Trinidad and Jamaica.
Rum Distillery of the Year
St Nicholas Abbey
Best White Rum – Boutique Rumfest
St Nicholas Abbey
Best New Gold Rum
Appleton Estate 50 Year Old
Best New Packaging
Appleton Estate 50 Year Old
UK Brand Ambassador
Shervene Shahbazkhani, for Bacardi
International Brand Ambassador
Stefanie Holt for El Dorado rums
Master Distiller of the Year
Roberto Serralles of Puerto Rico’s Serralles Distillery for DonQ, Palo Viejo, and Caliche.
Rum Experience Pioneer Award
Roberto Serralles of Puerto Rico’s Serralles Distillery for DonQ, Palo Viejo, and Caliche.
Best Gold Rum at Boutique Rumfest
Bristol Spirits’ Rockley Still Barbados 1986
Best Rum Blogger of the Year
RefinedVices.com
We are hoping to be nominated next year so watch this space 🙂
The evening was a roaring success with presenters of awards including leading bartenders Salvatore Calabrese (Playboy London) and Peter Dorelli.