The Rum Barrel Blog

Now this was amazing! After going for the first time at Paris Rhum Fest 2023 thanks to a bar takeover I decided to re-visit it, this time on my own time and terms. The sheer amount of quality rhums and rums was absolutely huge, not to mention the lovely people I got to socialise with.

This year the Rhum Fest took place at the beginning of May, more exactly on the 4th (Saturday), 5th (Sunday) and 6th (Monday) with the latter being the trade day. The location was the same as last year at the Parc Floral Paris which, while a little remote, is always beautiful. It was the 10th anniversary of the event and I was really excited to experience it.

On the very first day I arrived early and there was a massive queue at the entrance, which would make that my only complaint – the waiting time. Thankfully all the other days went a lot more smoothly. As soon as I got in I went to look for my friend, Sharon, who worked at the Camikara stand where I had their 8 Year Old as my first tipple of the day. I made that stand my return spot for all the duration of the event and I would go there and bother Sharon whenever I needed some rest.

Next up was the Madeira stand where I tried some William Hilton with the Madeira cask finish being absolutely delicious. I also managed to say hello to Joshua from 1423.dk who treated me with some new releases from the Single Origin Rum series – a pot still cane juice Dominican Republic rum (yes you heard that right) and a strawberry-like Australian rum. Easily one of my highlights of the show!

Another highlight for me was a rhum from Marie Galante aged for 10 years in a Jerez sherry cask bottled by Excellence Rhum – I was sending everyone I knew to try this as it was really interesting and tasty.

As I was strolling around I met up with Peter Holland and we went together to the Trois Rivieres stand where we tried their whole range from A to Z. Their 1999 vintage was an absolute treat and we both loved it. We then moved on to the Rhum 1710 which had some stunning single cane variety unaged rhum. It’s a shame we don’t get much of their offerings in the UK.

Some other interesting tipples from the first day included a New Grove rum finished in whisky casks, a 60% ABV Mauricia Pure Cane rum and, of course, O Reizinho from Madeira.

The Rhum Fest also gave me the opportunity to try Disaronno’s new rum range, Rump@blic, who take rums from other producers and finishes them in Marsala, Sicily, using, well, Marsala wine barrels. Their Jamaican one was a recurring tipple for me throughout the show.

The second day was more about socialising rather than sampling, but I still managed to power through some good rhum. I left my bag at the Camikara stand as soon as I arrived and went on to try a small, commercial brand called The Demon’s Share. As expected, most of their range was flavoured and their 15 Year Old was quite underwhelming compared to the other beasts in the room.

Speaking of beasts, I couldn’t miss out on the Saint James stand where I went through the whole range plus a 2001 vintage which, now that I’m writing about it, I miss it. Tried a few small brands after that as well, with my highlights being Husk Rum from Australia and a beautiful Montebello La Recontre which was double matured in ex-Cognac and Puligny Montrachet wine casks – this was such an incredibly stunning rum.

I have to mention that every once in a while I was helping Sharon on the Camikara stand so she could get a little break and on the 2nd day I encouraged her to come and try some rum as well – so I took her to 1423.dk where I introduced her to those unique Single Origin Rum offerings and we also got to sample some tasty S.B.S I haven’t seen the previous day.

An amazing brand I haven’t heard of before was Balancal Rum from Madeira which uses a hybrid still to make their distillates and it’s incredibly good (I really need to go to Madeira).

The second day was nice and relaxing, now onto the 3rd one, the trade day.

My goal this day was to visit the Isautier stand as I’m a big fan and they did not disappoint. They had four 15 year old rums, 2 of them made from cane juice and the other 2 made from molasses. And to top it off, one from each pair was cask strength, which was a challenge to drink at noon, but I didn’t back off at all, and my palate was well rewarded.

My next stop was Rum Nation where I got to try a rum from Peru, a Versailles finished in a peated whisky cask and a 23 Year Old Enmore. After that I went to say hi to Mitch Wilson from Black Tot who introduced me to a brand from Guadeloupe called Karukera which I very much enjoyed.

Remember when I said Saint James was a beast? Well that statement became even stronger after Stephen Martin, the ambassador of Saint James, offered me to sample some Brut De Colonne offerings amongst some other beautiful vintages – I was in rhum heaven for a short while.

Speaking of rhum heaven, I managed to squeeze through the crowd in order to get myself some HSE in the glass. I am quite familiar with their blancs so I went for a few aged expressions and I really liked their Kilchoman Whisky cask finish. Some Clement was due as well and their Canne Bleue vintages never disappoint.

Thanks to my friends, Jo and Keegan, I got my hands on a sample of the new Mount Gay Coffey Still as well which was a very intriguing tipple.

This was easily one of the best rum events I have ever been to. Everyone was incredibly nice and helpful, the rums/rhums were stunning and the bar after parties were wild. I couldn’t recommend it enough, so save up and let’s meet up next year.

I’ll leave the rest of the photos here:

Cheers!