The Miami Rum Renaissance Festival, now in its seventh year, is bringing new rum brands to the United States and Miami for the very first time. Held April 17 to 19 at the DoubleTree Miami Airport Convention Center, the Miami Rum Renaissance Festival and Trade Expo features three days of grand tasting events for consumers and members of the spirits industry trade.
This expanded annual gathering of rum producers, importers, distributors and retailers reflects the growing category of new rum producers and those that have not previously imported their products into the United States. In 2014, approximately 26 million cases of rum were sold in the United States, with the premium rum category growing 11.8 percent and the spiced rum category growing 11.6 percent. Growth was in in premium rums was in large part due to new entrants into the U.S. rum market from emerging rum producing countries, from North, Central and South America, to producers in the South Pacific and Asia. Many new entrants into the U.S. rum market, along with aspiring entrants never before featured in the U.S., will be on hand showcasing their rums at this year’s festival.
“We’re seeing a huge increase in new craft spirits, as well as brands from other countries that have not previously presented their products in North America,” said Robert Burr, host of the Miami Rum Renaissance Festival and Trade Expo.
Among the new participants at the Miami event is John Barrett of Bristol Spirits in the United Kingdom, a brand of boutique expressions well known throughout Europe. Over the last twenty years Bristol Spirits have been shipping carefully selected rums of the Caribbean to their damp, cool cellars in England for masterful maturation in wood. When deemed ready for the enjoyment of Rum lovers, they are carefully bottled with the minimum of handling and prepared for export to more than twenty international markets. Showing for the first time in Miami will be Bristol’s great Demerara Port Morant from Guyana, an aged Barbados rum, a fine Haiti rum, one of the great Caroni rums from Trinidad, and their own dark spiced rum blend known as Bristol Black.
Members of the West Indies Rum and Spirits Producers Association will bring many brands and expressions to the United States for the first time as part of their program to promote Authentic Caribbean Rums. New expressions to be discovered at the Rum Trade Expo include English Harbour 5 Year-Old from Antigua, Doorly’s XO and St. Nicholas Abbey 5 Year-Old from Barbados, Westerhall Vintage and Clarke’s Court Old Grog from Grenada, Hampden Gold and Monymusk Plantation Reserve from Jamaica, Captain Bligh XO from St. Vincent, and Borgoe 8 Year-Old from Suriname.
From India, the Miami Renaissance Rum Festival and Trade Expo will for the first time welcome Two Indies Rum from Amrut Distileries. This unique product combines rums from India and Barbados for a unique East Indies and West Indies blend.
Rounding out the selection of first time rums include the award-winning Skotlander rums From Copenhagen, Denmark, Blue Water Rum from Saint Maarten, which will debut its rums expressions for the first time, and Stroh, the iconic rum from Austria, that has never before presented their unique rums to the members of the spirits trade in Miami.
Craft American distillers like Richland Rum from Georgia and South Florida Distillers of Ft. Lauderdale are also presenting their American craft spirits in Miami for the first time.
Tickets to the International Trade Exposition for Rum require pre-authorization and are available at a price of $20 per trade professional. For pre-authorization and to purchase tickets call 877-855-3378 or visit www.rumrenaissance.com. Brands wishing to secure exhibit space may contact the Miami Rum Renaissance Festival at 305-443-7973 or [email protected] for additional information and exhibitor pricing.
Presenting the largest rum festival in the world — attracting rum experts, professionals and enthusiasts from more than 30 countries. The annual Miami Rum Renaissance Festival and International Trade Exposition for Rum offers an opportunity to sample hundreds of fine rums from the Caribbean and beyond during three days of Grand Tasting events April 17 to 19, 2015 at the DoubleTree Miami Airport Convention Center located at 711 N.W. 72 Avenue, Miami, FL 33126. Rum celebrity seminars, live entertainment, island lifestyle vendors and interactive cocktail demonstrations round out the activities associated with this unique celebration of the best rums in the world. General admission tickets begin at $50. VIP passes offering early admission are $75, and three-day VIP passes at $100. To purchase tickets visit www.MiamiRumFest.com.
