By the Caribbean Journal staff
This year’s St Lucia Food and Rum Festival will include a major new expansion: Caribbean Journal’s first-ever Caribbean Rum Awards, a celebration of the best of rum-making from around the region and the world.
The Caribbean Rum Awards, which will take place Jan. 12-14, will include a special jury, a bartenders’ workshop, a welcome rum event and a special VIP tasting, in partnership with the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority.
Winners and medalists will be selected in blind tasting from across six categories, with the initial field selected by Caribbean Journal’s Rum Journal, which runs the preeminent Rum Awards each December.
“The first-ever Caribbean Rum Awards will celebrate the glory of rum,” said Alexander Britell, editor and publisher of Caribbean Journal. “This will chiefly be a consumer-facing event, one aimed at introducing the public to the remarkable diversity and quality of fine rums. We want people to fall in love with the world of rum.”
The categories will include Best Rum, Best Rhum Agricole, Best White Rum, Best White Rhum Agricole, Best Gold Rum and Best Spiced Rum.
A team of world-class judges has been assembled for the event, a group that will be paired with local rum aficionados from St Lucia.
International judges on hand for the weekend include rum experts and tastemakers including St Barth’s Christopher Davis, Harbour Island’s Toby Tyler, Martinique’s Guy Ferdinand and Aruba’s Erwin Husken, along with senior editorial executives at Caribbean Journal.
“We’re very excited to bring the Caribbean Rum Awards to St Lucia for what will be a truly exciting weekend,” said Guy Britton, managing editor at Caribbean Journal.
For more information, visit the Food and Rum Festival.