All my Christmas travel plans went south thanks to COVID. Thanks COVID! Luckily, I’d planned ahead and treated myself to the original rum box – 24 taster bottles from producers across the globe – to get me through a long December. Even if I couldn’t leave the country, I could still take a trip – and have an excuse to throwback to my past adventures – with the help of a rum-themed advent calendar. Around the world in 24 days of rum? This could get messy.
Pack your bags, we’re going global
Or rather, un-pack. Inside my box from Amazon there was the calendar, 2 tasting glasses and 2 sets of tasting notes. Behind each of doors of the calendar, a different 20ml serve of rum to sample.
Our 24 rums, from renowned brands to unknown gems, have been carefully selected to ensure a heart-warming and refined experience for everyone.
And because experience and discovery – and not just alcohol – are what this is all about, they also created an online calendar to tell the stories of each individual producer or brand (educational too, you see?). Every day there would be a new virtual window to open (updating at midnight…so no cheating), so I had something to tide me over until it was socially acceptable to open my IRL calendar. Because cracking open the booze before breakfast is never a good look.
Below I’ve mapped out the countries visited on this ‘trip’ around the world in 24 days of rum – zoom in, click on the markers, have a play. As expected, the countries lean heavily towards the classic rum-producers in The Caribbean and Central & South America (and pretty much my favourite part of the world – coincidence?) but we do collect a few random passport stamps along the way to make it feel a little more global.
Shall we take a closer look? Grab those bags, let’s go.
First leg: Panama to Grenada
First stop on our trip around the world in 24 days of rum is Panama. Ron Compañero Extra Añejo is full-bodied, 12 year-aged with a seductive chocolate note – courtesy of the cacao-seasoned oak barrels where they rest before bottling – and a heady 54% abv. Rich and chocolatey, even though my nose said caramel (shows how much I know…).
Panama is definitely on my list, part of my grand plan to see every country in Central and South America. Made it to Costa Rica, made it to Colombia…just missed the bit in the middle (ignore that pesky Darién Gap).
What I didn’t miss, though, was Mexico. Day 2 on tour was Pixan Solera Especial from Monterrey in the northeast. Fruity with notes of fresh wine – it’s matured in red wine barrels from Mexico’s oldest winery – Pixan is actually a Mayan word that means “Spirit that gives life”. Story checks out.
A few years back I was on the other side of the country in The Yucatán and Quintana Roo, wandering through the ruins at Chichen Itza, going full-on arts and culture in Merida and Valladolid, beaching and bar-ing in Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum. It “gave me life” indeed, Mexico is so my vibe. I’ve even got another post-pandemic trip planned out in my head to Mexico City (home of Licorería Limantour – it’s on my bar list), west to Guadalajara (for the Tequila) and a final hop to Sayulita (for boho beaching). Side-trip to Monterrey? Maybe…
On day 3 we hit Venezuela, which I can’t believe I haven’t visited (despite all its issues) as I do have roots there on my mum’s side. No reunion, though, just rum with a treacly Ron Roble Viejo Maestro, aged for 8 years in oak barrels. Then on day 4, a quick hop to the Six Saints Distillery just outside St George, Grenada. The small-batch Caribbean blend is light and fruity with a touch of vanilla. Sweet.
Second leg: Around the world…in 3 days?
Then my whole trip analogy goes a little off the rails as on day 5 we leave the West Indies for Mauritius...then on day 6 we fly right back to go to Barbados. Yeah, trip planning is kind of my superpower, I’d never schedule anything this crazy. Anyway, let’s suspend our disbelief and continue.
After 8,000+ miles, 3 stopovers and a lot of hours in the air (in theory…), we’re sipping Lazy Dodo rum – ironically named after a bird too lazy to fly. Distilled on an estate in Pamplemousses, in the north west of the island of Mauritius, the aged, amber rum is packed with local flavour: lush tropical fruit and sticky sugar cane molasses . Then we’re heading 8000 miles back the other way.
In 2018/2019 Neptune Barbados Gold was “the world’s most awarded rum”, achieving no less than 65 Global awards to date. Sounds like a treat. It’s a blend distilled and aged at the celebrated Foursquare Rum Distillery set within a 17th Century sugar plantation in St Philip Parish, Barbados. Its located in gorgeous countryside, worth a trip in itself (they do tours), and still not too far from the beach. This is supposed to be a holiday, after all.
Enjoyed that beachtime? Good, ’cause the next stop is over 10,000 miles away.
Australia makes rum. Since 1884, apparently. Who knew? Beenleigh Artisan Rum is produced by the oldest operating distillery in the country, on the Albert River, Queensland. It’s tropical-aged in former bourbon barrels with a flavour that “brings some subtle balanced fruity and funkiness”. It didn’t really give me much, so I co-sign on the subtle.
When I was last in Oz, I don’t think I touched a drop of rum. I drank a s*** load of wine, though. In the boutique vineyards of The Hunter Valley, on the roof terrace of a club in Sydney, on a catamaran sailing around The Whitsundays, in tiny bars tucked away in Melbourne laneways. I switched to beers to watch the 1st Ashes Test at The Gabba (translation: England v Australia cricket match in Brisbane) – anything else would just have been rude – but otherwise, yeah, lots of wine.
Especially Sauvignon Blanc – some of my favourites are from this part of the world and, if I ever head back here it would be to go to Marlborough on New Zealand‘s South Island to drink the best.
Third leg: Guatemala to Portugal
Until then, we’re heading back to Central America on day 8, to Guatemala for Rum Nation Gran Reserva. Light, delicate with hints of vanilla and crème brûlée – just what I needed after a long flight (work with me here…) and before a short drive over the border to Belize on day 9. Don Omario is a vintage blend, hand-crafted and aged by the Master Blender himself – Don Omario Perdomo. A special edition was released to commemorate Prince Harry’s visit to Belize in March 2012, but I don’t know, does Harry look like a rum drinker to you?
Heading back to Europe on day 10. Nominally Madeira, home of William Hinton Four Cask Edition Rum, but technically Portugal because that gives me the chance to have another holiday throwback.
I flew to Porto because the flights on Ryanair were criminally cheap and then, when I arrived, I remembered they also made port. I spent a couple of nights in a dorm at a very cool, very artsy hostel recommended by Kash Bhattacharya in his luxury hostels guide, The Gallery. Set among the, ahem, galleries and boutiques and vintage shops of Porto’s boho-chic Rua de Miguel Bombarda, it had the intimate, friendly vibe that I love about the smaller, boutiquey-luxe (i.e NOT party) hostels. Everyone bonded over a family-style dinner on the first night, I took an alternative city tour led by one of the local guys who doubled as receptionist and barman and made lots of enthusiastic drinking buddies.
I headed over the Douro river to Vila Nova de Gaia with a girl from Argentina (we had the same first name: friends for life) for an afternoon of tours and 2 Euro tastings around the city’s famous port cellars. There I discovered I was a bit of a fan of the Late-bottled Vintage. And the Tawny. And the White. F*** it, all of them. Who knew? It was a really speedy midweek mini-break that I would highly recommend if you are looking for low key city getaway with lots to do (and they also have delicious pastéis de nata, so, bonus).
Fourth leg: US to Dominican Republic
On day 11, we keep heading west, then deep south to Georgia, USA to sip on Richland Rum Single Estate Old South Georgia Rum. Manually crafted from sugarcane cultivated in their own fields with sustainable agricultural practices, its then fermented and copper pot-distilled at their own distilleries in Richland and Brunswick, South Georgia. With hints of caramel, vanilla, espresso, tobacco, dark chocolate – definitely a few of my favourite things – yeah, I liked this one.
I’ve spent quite a bit of time in the US for work and play over the years, but I’ve never been further south than Florida. I did once have a stopover in Atlanta airport where I went to TGI’s, but I don’t think that really counts? Most of the places I visited were as you’d expect – New York, Oahu, Vegas, Chicago, Miami, I lived and worked in LA for a bit – but probably the only time I truly got out of my comfort zone was on my very first trip. End of my first year of uni, I found myself in smalltown USA – Sandusky, Ohio – working a 10-week stint at Cedar Point, amusement park “America’s rockin’ roller coast”. Random? But sometimes the best adventures are.
10 weeks of dorm living with my crew: new friends from other UK unis and from all over the midwest, West Virginia and Kentucky. 10 weeks of getting carded in bars for being under 21 (…but sneaking in and drinking anyway), of working 12-hour days wearing the ugliest playsuit that you’d have to strip off completely to take a pee (God help you when you are wearing your rain gear and have just downed 2 cans of diet mountain dew…). 10 weeks of being constantly on tornado watch, of using my fake posh Brit voice as the Kiddie Kingdom Carousel announcer (with a sideline in recording people’s VM messages), of 3-hour road-trips to random clubs then accidentally turning the wrong way on the highway on the way back meaning a 6-hour drive home crossing state lines (when you have to be at work 9am), of jumping the line to scream my lungs out on the fastest and highest rollercoasters and of desperately trying to master the Booty Call line dance. 10 weeks of pranks and drama and screaming matches and junk food and butt tattoos (not mine).
And. So. Much. More. It was amazing. If I wasn’t so much older and wiser, I’d do it all again.
End of US story time, back on the road and back to The Caribbean.
Day 12 was The Dominican Republic and the premium, full-bodied Ron Esclavo XO, 12-15 year-aged in American and French oak barrels.
Esclavo is the Spanish word for slave. This rum is named so in order to pay tribute to the people who paid the highest price for us to enjoy this amazing spirit today. By remembering the dark history of rum production, we make sure we appreciate the development in the rum industry today.
ronesclavo.com/
Forgive me, I have been romanticising these estates and plantations throughout, when what I should’ve been saying is “place where enslaved people toiled to cultivate the sugar to produce the molasses to distill into rum and sustain their role in the triangular slave trade”. The links between rum and slavery are indelible and many books and articles have been written on the history by people much brighter than me. Even within the industry, I’ve heard rum professionals like Sly Augustin of London’s Trailer Happiness bar speak passionately on the subject…I can’t have a conversation about rum and ignore the history, so do the research, it makes the discussion all the richer.
Back on tour…
Fifth leg: Guadeloupe to Trinidad
Day 13 was the elegant and aromatic Séverin Rhum Vieux from Domaine de Séverin – and its working water mill – in Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe. Day 14 was a hop into South America and the Paute Valley, in the Andes of Southern Ecuador. Their Ron Canuto XO Extra Old is an aged molasses rum with quite a rich, butterscotchy finish that I enjoyed as a delicious rum old fashioned with sugar, bitters and orange. Day 15 was back to The Caribbean again, to Saint Lucia. The Admiral Rodney brand has significant naval links with the HMS Princessa Extra Old Saint Lucia Rum being named after a Spanish vessel captured by the British in 1780 at the battle of Cape St. Vincent. This robust and complex rum is aged from 5-9 years in Bourbon and Port casks before being blended to an intense brown sugar, crème brûlée finish. Yum (any reference to dessert, I’m listening).
Day 16 – back to me, and a place close to my heart: Trinidad and Tobago. Birthplace of my mum, of the biggest street party on earth and of some damn good rums. I was already really familiar with the Angostura brands, but on this tour, I was introduced to Zaka 7. A dark rum with tropical fruit flavours, matured 7-10 years, it is named after Zaka, a god of peasantry and agriculture who plays an almost mystical role in the history of rum…and also has a love dancing. Which brings us back to that street party…
Held annually during the week leading up to Lent, Carnival in Trinidad is a national cultural institution, celebrating the freedom and emancipation of African slaves on the island. J’Ouvert kicks off Carnival Monday at 4am, when revellers file through the streets covered in paint, chocolate and mud until the sun comes up. Then the Mas (Masquerade) bands take over the streets for the next 2 days, parading in the most colourful, intricate – and sometimes straight-up sexy – themed costumes, jumping up to the beat of soca, calypso and steelpan. Outside of the parades, there are contests and shows and fetes (parties) upon fetes upon fetes…It’s a VIBE.
I’ve been to Trinidad to visit extended family, side-tripped to Tobago for boating and beaches but have not yet – YET – made it for Carnival. The timing hasn’t worked with work, or my diet – I’d definitely want to play mas and would probably need to hardcore Peloton for a straight year to be able to walk the streets of Port of Spain in a sequin thong and feathers. Until then, I’ll content myself with the parties around Notting Hill Carnival, catching Soca artists like Machel Montano, Fay-Ann Lyons, Bunji Garlin as I have done when they’ve been in town…and hitting that Peloton.
Sixth leg: Nicaragua to Colombia
On day 17 it was a pretty substantial hop west to Nicaragua to sample Cane Island Nicaragua Single Estate, a rich amber 12-year old with flavours of oak, tobacco and natural vanilla.
Nicaragua was a country I visited pretty much as an afterthought. I was planning a trip to Costa Rica anyway, and thought that making a side-trip across the border would be a good way to maximise my time in the region. Didn’t realise I’d end up loving it so much (…more than Costa Rica. Controversial.). I spent a few days in lovely (if quiet), colonial Granada, made some friends on a Volcano tour, one of whom joined me on the next leg, a ferry over to Isla de Ometepe. One of my greatest travel memories ever was spending a quiet first evening on the island, sitting on a little beachy area on the lakefront of our guesthouse. It wasn’t late, but the night was at the same time pitch black and crystal clear: So. Many. Stars. I’d never seen anything like it before. We just chilled in silence, sipping Flor de Caña (another rum, of course) and coke, listening to insects do their do. It was like a romantic non-date, sorta, kinda? The next day we borrowed bikes to ride around the island (followed by more rum), then a 6am trek up one of the twin volcanoes the next (followed by even more rum. And beer. That trek was brutal) before heading off to San Juan del Sur the day after that.
An amazing trip that taught me that leaning into the random can lead to incredible experiences. A lesson to live by.
Day 18 was spent in Jamaica with a complex yet mild Rum Artesanal, a blend of 3 distinct styles from 3 different distilleries. On day 19 we dropped back down into South America, to Peru. Ron Millonario Solera 15 Reserva Especial is an award-winning rum that evokes candied fruit, coconut, buttery toffee and dark sugar. It also had my favourite tasting recommendation ever: “for maximum enjoyment, may be paired with some dark chocolate”. Don’t mind if I do.
Staying in South America, on day 20 we travelled east to Guyana for a heavy, syrupy Demerara. Rum Nation Demerara Solera No. 14 has bitter herbal notes, a touch of earl grey, a lot of sugar.
On day 21, I’m back in my memories, this time in Colombia. Dictador 12 Years is a rich, warm rum with a little hint of coffee (in Colombia, this makes a lot of sense) produced at the Destilería Colombiana in Cartagena.
A while back, I spent an amazing New Year’s in Cartagena, rolling with a big crew from my hostel in the Centro Historico, some of whom I’d ‘known’ since Bogotá. There, we’d spent a day cycling around the funky, pastel dilapidation of La Candelaria, sampling alien-looking fruit in the central market and then absconding from a lame club night to party in the Zona Rosa. After Bogotá, Cali was all about La Feria: street parades and all-night salsa parties, foam fights, a random Rocky marathon on cable and many, many shots of aguardiente (like a traditional version of Aftershock). Then it was Cartagena, and by the time I was ready to leave for Santa Marta, the group had slimmed to just 3. After a punishing night of partying at La Brisa Loca hostel, I was ready to take on The Tayrona National Park .
No tour group, no guide…no map. Just me, myself and my stinking hangover, I was determined to hike from the entrance, through the rainforest to the beach on my own. It started off well enough, but about 30 minutes in, I realised that I was THE ONLY PERSON ON THE TRAIL. Panic. Where was everybody??!! With nothing but invisible monkeys – and a lot of trees – for company, I followed the arrows for another hour/ hour and a half before finally being rewarded with the sight of white sand, blue sea and PEOPLE!!!
Ran into some Brits I’d met in Cartagena who thought I might have followed the horse trail by accident. Typical – I have zero sense of direction. Anyway, the beach at El Cabo was stunning. I hung out for the afternoon…then took a speedboat back to Taganga. I wasn’t taking any chances. I followed up Tayrona with San Andrés and Medellin (complete with Roberto Escobar encounter – how very Narcos). All this drama in a 2-week (give or take) trip? I put in WORK.
Last leg: Martinique to El Salvador
Day 22 saw our final stop in The Caribbean, in Martinique with a woody, aged and blended rhum agricole, Rhum J.M V.O before pinging back to Europe. On day 23, we landed in Spain – specifically Arucas in Gran Canaria – to taste a premium American oak-aged Arehucas 12 rich with nuts and vanilla.
Of all the countries in the world, Spain is probably the one I’ve visited the most. Is it because it is so close to home? Is it because there is so much to see (yes…but why do I keep returning to the same places over and over and over again?). I don’t know…so which story should I tell? Something from Madrid? Santander? Burgos? Málaga? Palma? La Cerdanya? From Barcelona, probably my favourite, most visited city in the world? From Ibiza, the absolute paradise I try to hit every year? Or even Gran Canaria, home of Destilerías Arehucas and the place where I had my first holiday abroad with the girls at 17 (actually, no, let’s not tell that story…).
No, I think I’m going to go with Formentera, Ibiza’s chill little sister, because it is a little different for me (…and because it is rum relevant). We’ll call this tale, “3 beaches, 3 mojitos and an island bike ride. Oh, and an epic sunset.” I was on a long weekend on Ibiza and, since I was flying solo, I was looking for a nice active, outdoorsy day that wasn’t just tied to a beach. I knew Formentera had both bikes for hire and official paths for touring, so easy decision, I jumped on a boat.
After reminding myself how to ride a bike, read a map and actually locate the entrance to the bike path I spent the afternoon riding around stunning Ses Illetes (rewarding my efforts with a ginger and basil ‘Tharito’ made by Walter at the legendary Juan y Andrea ), the gorgeous capital of Sant Francesc and through the salt flats to La Savina, pretty much wearing myself out. Then, I said goodbye to the bike and cabbed it south to the beautiful Platja de Migjorn to enjoy classic mojitos (made with that Nicaraguan Flor de Caña!) on the sand at Piratabus as the sun dipped out of the sky…and a passion fruit Mojito for the road (or the sea..?) at Flipper and Chiller before hopping on the boat back to Ibiza. Rum is the best cure for saddle-sore, you know…
Despite its rep as a party island, there really is no need to avoid Ibiza as a solo traveller. There are so many places to safely explore outside of the club scene and, with walks and bike routes of Formentera about 30 minutes away, you’ll never get bored. And, if you do fancy heading to a bar? Well, you know where to go.
And with that, we’ve made it the the finish, day 24, ending this trip back where we started, in Central America. Our final rum is from Ron Cihuatán, the first and only distillery in El Salvador. Cihuatán Obsidiana is a hand-crafted blend of 3 rums between 11 and 14 years old, aged in American oak barrels. The rum, with its tasting notes of lychee, sugar cane, cinnamon and cashew, is inspired by the Mayan legend of Obsidiana, where the goddess Itzpapalotl – known as the ‘Obsidian Butterfly’ – would rise from the Xibalba (deities represented by a two-headed snake) to keep travellers company and protect them under her magnificent wings. Seems fitting – I made it to the end in one piece, so maybe the goddess was protecting me?
Around the world in 24 days of rum, done.
This wasn’t about the rum. It really wasn’t. It was just an excuse for me to count down to Christmas, closing out a pretty unusual year by reflecting on my past travel experiences and just being thankful to have had those opportunities at a time when all current plans have gone to s***. The rum was a nice bonus, though, and I really enjoyed my little spin around the globe, learning a little more about each country through the lens of their producers, but not forgetting the realities of the history of the rum trade. Probably going to give rum a hard pass for January – I’ve over-indulged just a little! But I’ve loved it. What are we doing next year?!
