Today's big event was the Grand Tasting. This is where the public come in and gets the opportunity to converse with all of the rum makers and the chance to sample many of the rums being shown at the festival. This is always a crowd pleasing event for the visitors attending. Many of these rums presented here at the show are not available here in the United States at this time, the distilleries are looking to see the reaction of their customers toward ther products. This is part of the pi
cture for the distillers in the evaluation to see if it is worth the cost and trouble to bring it to the United States. Just one of the things that must be done is packaging the rum in 750ml bottles rather than the 700 ml the rest of the world allows. There are several other things as well, but the bottle is a major hurdle that has to be cleared.
This morning's brunch was with Tanduay Asian Rums, made in the Philippines. Tanduay Rum is a 160 years old rum maker and the second largest producer of rum in the world. Made from molasses that comes from their own Victorias Milling Company in the Philippines. The flavor profile is generated through blending a 5 column process rum aged up to five years into a silky, smooth and complex rum. The rums are aged in oak barrels of several varieties to create this range and depth of the flavors. There are over 100,000 barrels of Tanduay aging at this time guaranteeing a consistent supply of these fine aged rums. Tanduay says it best when that say "A merger of experience and intelligence". This pretty well sums up the approach taken when createing these fine rums.Many of the people that have been a part of the event are on the rooftop of The Gale Hotel partying with the folks from Appleton Estate Rum. This guy is plum tuckered out and in my room writing this blog before turning in for the night. This boy is hit the wall and I am done with the parties for this trip. I'm sure glad that this Rum Festival only happens once a year, I would not be able to survive many more of them. ;o)
