Tag: rum

An afternoon at the Manchester Rum Festival 2022

We were given tickets to the Manchester Rum Festival 2022 for review purposes.

When I mentioned that I was going to the Manchester Rum Festival over the weekend, everyone I spoke to was seriously jealous, and rightly so. It’s a really fun afternoon out and if you’re interested in rum, it’s a great opportunity to find out more and to try all kinds of different styles of rum you may never have encountered before.

An afternoon at the Manchester Rum Festival 2022

Growing up in the 80’s, my Auntie Ann was a glamourous ex-model and fabulous. She drank white rum and coke in tall crystal glasses, with a lashings of ice. She was an exotic creature back then and it imprinted on me early on that rum was a drink for exotic and glamourous people; people like my Auntie Ann. Obviously that’s still true today, but these days there are more kinds of rum available than just white rum or dark rum. There’s a rum for everyone, not just rum for my Auntie Ann.

On Saturday 18th June, my rum drinking companion and I hot-footed it to the biggest and best rum festival in town – the Manchester Rum Festival 2022! Like last year, this took place at the 4-star Mercure Hotel in Piccadilly Gardens. It’s a good venue, with a just-the-right-sized room, a bar, food and a DJ; not forgetting more rum stands than you can count!

An afternoon at the Manchester Rum Festival 2022

When we arrived, the rum room was busy. People had dressed up for the festival, with flowery shirts being standard attire for gentlemen, mine included. Together we did a couple of circuits of the room, stopping to sip samples and chat to the brand representatives. We learned a lot about rum, almost without fail the reps were generous with their knowledge and their samples. Together we sipped rum from Jamaica and Venezuela; to Manchester and Martinique.

An afternoon at the Manchester Rum Festival 2022

Between us we found a few new favourites. I was really taken aback by the Clément Blanc Rhum from Martinique; which is a sugar cane rum with a really unique taste, which comes from the sugar cane. Himself liked the Ron Aguere caramel rum (so much so that he bought some); and we both very much enjoyed the Pusser’s Rum. Honourable mentions need to go to Salford Rum, which is excellent and the Witch Kings coffee rum, which is just fantastic. However, you should probably try them all out yourself at the festival next year!

An afternoon at the Manchester Rum Festival 2022

Tickets were £25 plus a booking fee, and it was such a fun afternoon, it was worth every penny. To find out more about the Manchester Rum Festival, visit their website.

Win tickets to the Manchester Rum Festival on 18th June 2022

Last year as lockdown eased and the country started to open up once more, we went to the Manchester Rum Festival. It was a really fun afternoon out, we discovered lots of new rums to try, sampled plenty of the good stuff and just generally had the best day out in what felt like years. We were as pleased as (rum) punch when we heard that the Manchester Rum Festival was back, and bigger than ever!

The Manchester Rum Festival will be on 18th June, and this year’s June event looks set to be bigger than ever with an incredible 15 new brands for attendees to enjoy. You can sample rums from over 40 producers, sip amazing cocktails by Liar’s Club, enjoy traditional music and entertainment by festival stalwart, DJ Dom and food by British Virgin Island cuisine legends Nyammin’, who will be cooking up a flavoursome storm from their pop-up stand. It’s basically a giant room filled with people keen to tell you about their brand of rum and keen to let you have a little sample too; with good music and delicious food too. What’s not to love?

Manchester Rum Festival on 18th June 2022Local Greater Manchester brands Tameside Distillery and Decorrum make their festival debuts, alongside Tanduay – a rum brand from the Philippines which will make its first ever UK appearance – and Beach House and Arcane which are both from the sunny climes of Mauritius.Other rum brands popping their Manchester Rum Festival cherries include Ron Aguere from the Canaries, Ron Colon from El Salvador and Santiago de Cuba.Festival stalwarts and much-loved local brands, Salford Rum and Diablesse, will also return to the festival, with new expressions to showcase to guests including Salford Honey Rum and Diablesse Coconut and Hibiscus Rum.  This year they will be joined by the Spirit of Manchester distillery and its One-Eyed Rebel rum brand which is crafted in the city centre.Tickets are priced at £25 and involves all available samples from the rum brands.  Find out more and book tickets at https://manchesterrumfestival.comManchester Rum Festival runs from 12pm to 7pm on Saturday 18th June 2022 at Mercure Manchester Piccadilly Hotel, Piccadilly Gardens.*Over 21s only / Cocktail bar and food not included

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An afternoon at The Manchester Rum Festival 2021

We were invited guests of the Manchester Rum Festival. All images and opinions are our own.

During the pandemic, most of the gin/beer/rum/whatever your favourite drink festivals had been put on the back burner for the duration. With things opening up a little more, life, and drinking is returning to something almost normal. When a shiny invitation fell into my inbox from the Manchester Rum Festival, it was impossible to say no.

On the Saturday of the Bank Holiday weekend, we hot-footed it to the 4-star Mercure Hotel in Piccadilly Gardens to enjoy an afternoon of rum and rum based fun.

An afternoon at The Manchester Rum Festival 2021

I’ll hold my hand up and say that although I’ve enjoyed drinking rum for many years, it’s not something I know a great deal about. It tasted nice in coke and made excellent cocktails, but I’d never given that much thought to how it was made or really considered how different rums could be.

Rum from Jamaica and Venezuela; to Manchester and Lancashire were showcased at the festival. With brands such as Saint Benevolence, AB Gold, Bacardi, Ninefold and Montanya nestling alongside local rum brands Diablesse, Salford, Witch Kings, ARLU Rum and City of Manchester Distillery. There were also new brands including the Cuban rum, Black Tears, from the Island Rum Company and the world’s first dry spiced Cuban rum.

An afternoon at The Manchester Rum Festival 2021

Tickets were £30, which included all samples; plus chats with the rum brands, a DJ and there was also a selection of rums will be able to purchase by the bottle to take home and enjoy.

When we arrived, the rum room was busy. People had dressed up for the festival, with flowery shirts being standard attire for gentlemen, mine included. Together we did a couple of circuits of the room, stopping to sip samples and chat to the brand representatives. We learned a lot about rum, almost without fail the reps were generous with their knowledge and their samples. Together we sipped rum which had been aged in bourbon casks; we tried some aged in sherry casks and even one with had spent some time in a port cask.

An afternoon at The Manchester Rum Festival 2021

I was especially excited to see so many local brands represented at the festival. We loved the Salford rum, their dark spiced rum tasted like a really rich Christmas cake, which was excellent. We were enchanted by the Witch Kings, with their flavoured rums (watch out for their next flavour. Their new coffee rum is out of this world). We also enjoyed an impromptu tarot card reading.

An afternoon at The Manchester Rum Festival 2021

I think my favourite rum from the festival was another local hero, ARLU rum. Their original flavour was so smooth, I’ve put a bottle of that on my Christmas list! My companion who favours a less sweet rum really enjoyed the English Harbour 5 year old rum from Antigua.

An afternoon at The Manchester Rum Festival 2021

We both left the festival with a whole new respect, admiration; and dare I say it, love for rum which we’d not had before. The Rum Festival was really good fun. We learned a lot, tried a lot of rum and laughed a lot too. It’s a lovely thing to do with friends and I will be keeping my eyes peeled for tickets to the festival next year.

For more information, visit the Manchester Rum Festival website.