Ho! Ho! Ho! And a Bottle of Rum!
Festival RumBahamas is set for February 27 through March 1, 2015, at Fort Charlotte, Nassau, the Bahamas.
“The Bahamas has a long history with pirates and rum that began in the 1600’s when pirates started appearing in The Bahamas and subsequently, when the first distillation of rum took place on the sugarcane plantations of the Caribbean in the 17th century,” said Charity Armbrister, Director of Events, Bahamas Ministry of Tourism. “The Bahamas was also a trans-shipment point in the rum-running era in the 1920’s and 1930’s where rum was smuggled in ships from Bimini to Florida.”
There won’t be any rum-running at the three day RumBahamas. Instead, there’ll be plenty of rum to taste (international brands as well as those distilled in the Caribbean), along with Bahamian cuisine.
Also planned are master classes on rum, bartending and cocktail competitions. Among the demonstrations will be one uncovering how sugarcane and molasses contribute to the process of rum distillation plus an international rum competition.
Cuisine will take center stage as international and local chefs demonstrate the creative use of rum in food with fresh takes on long loved Caribbean favorites. Locally sourced jams, jellies, sauces, barbecue glazes and other rum and sugarcane inspired condiments will be available for purchase.
From ‘Fire dancing’ to ‘Flash mobs’ there will be performances by entertainers from The Bahamas and the Caribbean including a Bahamian Circus, Emanji; The Junkanoo Commandos; bands from the Haitian, Jamaican and Cuban communities playing calypso and reggae music; storytellers; theatrical performances, limbo dancing, steel drum music; Junkanoo rush-outs; Bahamian celebrity performers and Rake ‘n’ Scrape.
Tickets are available online.
