After the welcome breakfast it was straight to the judging chambers and right to work evaluating the first 24 rums. With nearly 150 rums entered in the RumXP Competition this year our work is really cut out for us. As Martin Cates said "It's like Rum Tasting and the Hurt Locker all in one". Today we have tasted 45 different rums in two sessions, producing some very nice surprises at the reveal. Only four more sessions over the next two days. Today it was a pretty fine group of rums that ranged from about four to twenty-one years in age. These are generally good tasting rums and a pleasure to evaluate.
Today's lunch meeting was with Poesia Cachaca. Poesia means poetry in Spanish, and is a fitting name for this cachaca. Cachaca's as a rule are very rough to swallow if you will . They are unaged sugar cane spirits and tend to be unfriendly toward sipping neat. Poesia was a real surprise, it had good flavor and was really smooth. This like so many other cachaca's comes from Brazil and made from Brazilian sugar cane. Poesia Cachaca will be available here in Florida in early May, and it is on the list of spirits that I am looking forward to seeing on the shelves. This will make an awesome caipirnha , the smoothness of this cachaca is impossible to beat.
Tonight the gang is head up to Fort Lauderdale to the Mai Kai for dinner, cocktails and the Polynesian show.for me, this is going to be my recovery night. The Mai Kai is one of those places that takes you back to the height of the Tiki Era in 1960's California. The shows are out of this world along with the food and the cocktails. I'm staying home, working on the blogs, watching some TV and most of all sleep. The rest of the week is rum for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and two VIP Parties each night. I need tonight to prepare for all that is happening ahead.
Tomorrow morning it is rum with Francisco "Don Pancho" Fernandez and the introduction of his newest rums. Don Pancho's creations are always very exciting and a pleasure to sample even at breakfast. I'll fill you in on what he is introducing in tomorrow's blog. ;o)
