Rum, rum and more rum, was the theme for this year’s festival at the Grand Old House.
The Rum Festival, which was staged over three consecutive days, (Thursday, 13 to Saturday 15 October), saw over 400 people attend, with ticket sales raising money for the Cayman Islands National Recovery Fund and the local Aids Foundation.
Included in the festivities were an art exhibition on Thursday night, a rum workshop and dinner on Friday night, followed by a night of meringue, salsa and rum on the Saturday, including a hole-in-one golf competition.
Friday night was kicked off with a spirited talk on the history of rum by Keenon Roper, rum ambassador for Angostura.
Guests were invited to sample a range of rum which aged in age from eight to 23-year-old.
‘Finding a rum that suits your palette can take a while. You need to taste a wide variety before you can establish which ones you really like,’ Mr. Roper explained to guests.
‘Most people find a 15-year-old most enjoyable,’ he added.
A fun workshop followed in the kitchens of Grand Old House with Mount Gay chef Paul Yellin cooking rum inspired dishes and delighting guests with his flambéing skills.
Mr. Yellin, a professional chef of 12 years, believes rum will soon be the next tequila. ‘Rum and coke is already one of the most popular drinks in bars across the world. Events like this are a great way to introduce people to rum.
‘It’s an incredibly versatile dish to cook with – almost every day I discover a new way,’ he commented.
A selection of rum infused dishes were sampled by guests, including banana flambé, pepper pot stew and Mahi, banana and rum broth.
Guests then tasted a further selection of vintage rums from around the world with Robert Hamatly, owner and president of Tortuga rums.
Commenting on the event Mr Hamatly said; ‘Rum globally is growing in popularity. This event gives people the opportunity to sample a unique product while learning about its heritage.’
Tortuga, which has a wide selection of Caribbean rums, donated 16 different rums to the festival, with its 12-year old gold rum voted first in the tasting session.
Martin Richter, general manager for the Grand Old House and brainchild of the event commented;
‘Rum is a flavour of the Caribbean. There are so many products from around the world, but I feel that we first need to learn more about the products that we have on our doorsteps.’
Mr. Richter is working with a number of marketing organisations to package the event. He aims to sell it as an overseas incentive programme and hopes last weekends’ event will have demonstrated and celebrated the uniqueness and diversity of rum.
Following the tasting workshops, Paul Yellin was on hand to distribute his rum inspired cook book Infusion, making time to personally sign copies for guests.
To conclude the evening guests had the opportunity to mingle and exchange thoughts on the evenings activities, while freely sampling a selection of 15 Tortuga rums from coffee, to coconut and mango infused, demonstrating rums diverse flavours.
The evening was rounded off by a stunning five course meal prepared by chef Yellin and his team, all dishes, of course including one vital ingredient – Rum, and lots of it.
HISTORY OF RUM
According to Keenon Roper, rum is thought to have originated from Indonesia and Papa New Guinea, rum is any spirit derived from sugar cane syrup or it’s by-product molasses.
This by-product is boiled, mixed with water and yeast and then set to distil in aged oak casks.
Sugar cane, which takes around 12 to 18 months to mature, was introduced in the Caribbean by Europeans in the 16th century, where the climate proved ideal for growing quality cane.
Thought to have first reached Barbados in about 1640 it was commercially produced there from 1643, with almost every plantation in Barbados producing rum until the early years of the 20th century.
Although sugar cane is grown in many parts of the world, Barbados is commonly known as the birthplace of Rum.
In the beginning a crude alcoholic drink, often called Kill Devil and later Rumbullion, by 1700 the process was further refined and the drink we now know as rum was produced.
INFUSION
Infusion includes a selection of rum infused recipes, including cocktails, appetisers, main dishes and desserts.
Created by chef Paul Yellin and the Mount Gay Rum team, the book includes such inventive dishes as shellfish rum bisque, spicy pork with orange rum glaze and coconut rum brulee.
Paul Yellin was born in New York in 1971, but moved to Barbados in 1973.
He began to cook professionally in 1993 and has since worked at and helped open successful restaurants in New York, Barbados, Toronto and Berlin.
An international chef he is now heavily inovlved in consulting and has catered for consulates, concerts and baseball legend Ernie Banks.
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