The Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai

The education-oriented Rum Congress returned this year as an add-on to the San Francisco Rum Festival, offering deep dives into everyone’s favorite spirit. As with Saturday’s Festival event, Rum Congress was at Trader Vic’s Emeryville with the Lanyu room hosting 40 attendees.

Most of the sessions were hosted by a rum brand, with flowing samples provided – the best of which was Kate Perry representing LM&V and doing a deep dive into Hampden Estate from Jamaica with rum pours across their line. Many bottles were killed… Planteray’s Alexandre Gabriel discussed Navy Rum including the first U.S. tasting of the new blend of Mister Fogg’s Sail No. 2, including samples from each of the rums in the blend. I found No. 2 to be better than last year’s expression.

The Rum Lab founder Fede Hernández discussed historical details of Arecibo, Puerto Rico, once known for rum production. There was even a session that was a deep dive into Sherry styles, increasingly important considering how many rums are either aged or matured in different Sherry casks.

I was paired with Mitch Wilson for the last session of the day, discussing Essential Rums for Tiki Cocktails. I provided the premise for 10 key rum styles most common in historical and modern recipes including some brand recommendations. Mitch then led a more open discussion of additional considerations, such as how today’s expressions may not fully represent what Trader Vic and Don the Beachcomber were using back in their heyday. Mitch also brought some Black Tot rum expressions, including a very interesting Solera expression and also some fabulous Master Blender’s Reserve that I think tastes a lot like vintage Navy Rum.

We ended the day with toast:
There are tall ships,
And there are small ships,
And there are ships that sail the sea,
But the best ships, are friendships,
So here’s to you and me!

Thank you to all the attendees, especially those who stayed engaged all the way to the very end of a long weekend. You are the true champions of rum.

This year’s San Francisco Rum Festival and Congress moved to a new but familiar location at Trader Vic’s Emeryville. The event was mostly held outdoors in the parking lot, aside from the rum education seminars that were held in the Lanyu room, so it had much more of a festival feel. The music from DJ Speakeasy Ray featured lounge and exotica, and had a very relaxing feel that still allowed for conversation. In addition to tables for different rum brands, there were tiki vendors and Trader Vic’s offering cocktails and food.

I was assisting the speakers and helping to manage the guest flow with the seminars, and there were several good ones include a very interesting panel about American rum producers moderated by Robyn Smith of rum et al and featuring Wright & Brown and Striped Lion Distillery. The session on Asia Pacific rums dove into production processes and included tasting samples of rums from Fiji, Philippines, and Australia.

I found plenty of time to sample some rums. My favorites included the PM/DHE High Ester rum from El Dorado, Worthy Park’s rum made with sugar cane juice, Black Tot’s Master Blender 2022 release, and a very interesting unaged rum from Wright & Brown of Oakland. It seemed like there were maybe a few less brands being represented this year but there were more than enough to provide examples of the diversity of rum for newcomers to the spirit, plus new expressions to excite veteran rum tasters.

The outdoor format and location outside San Francisco had some plusses and minuses. The weather cooperated on Saturday but we had rain earlier in the week. Transportation and parking was a challenge in Emeryville, especially for someone who likes to sober up on the way home by taking BART rather than driving. On the plus side, Trader Vic’s lounge was open for service all day and had a private party event during dinner service, so suffice to say there was a lot of energy in the venue.