A taste of Barbados with Doorly’s and Real Rum Experience

If you’ve not heard Peter Holland (@thefloatingrumshack, Brand Ambassador for Foursquare Rum Distillery, and general rum champion) speak before then you’re definitely missing out. I love to listen to Pete and usually walk away from a conversation with as many new facts and learnings as rums I’ve tried.

After 18 months of events from Real Rum Experience this was a long time coming and did not disappoint.

The evening kicked off, as all good events do, with a classic Barbados cocktail – the Corn ‘n’ Oil – featuring Doorly’s XO.

We then dived into the session properly with a side by side tasting of a fantastic lineup of rums from Doorly’s, and a special pour of Equidem – a Foursquare ECS release.

The evening was hosted at Black Parrot Bar & Rum Library and this felt very fitting giving the prominence of parrots – specifically macaws on the labels of these rums. Fun fact: did you know that Gayle Seale took the photos? And that as the age statement increases; so does the rarity of the macaws featured!

Onto the rums themselves! I’m no stranger to the Foursquare Distillery or the Doorly’s range but it’s been a while since I’ve revisited and sat down with them all.

We started by comparing 2 editions of the 3 year bottled at 40% and 47% respectively – a great educational sip for highlighting the impact of ABV on flavour. We quickly moved onto the 5 year (a firm fav with the group), the XO, 12 year and 14 year. (My top 2 were the XO and 14 year – but honestly if you poured me a glass of any of these I’d be very happy).

I’m a huge fan of the Real Rum Experience and can’t recommend these highly enough to all – whether you’re new to the world of rum, a full on rum geek, or somewhere in the middle.

I consider myself pretty knowledgable and experienced when it comes to rum, yet I still found myself walking away with a deeper understanding of commercial ageing, blending and bottling processes.

A huge thank you to the Dwight & Marcos for organising another fantastic event (and baking a delicious rum cake too).

I look forward to seeing you at the next one!