MEZAN RUM TASTINGS & COMPETITION NATIONAL FINAL

TT Liquor played host to a series of Mezan Rum tastings as part of the national final of the Mezan Rum barrel competition.

This challenged some of London’s finest bartenders to create a barrel-aged cocktail featuring Mezan Rum.

Five top London bars entered their barrel-aged rum-inspired cocktails into the event, hopeful of victory – Shoreditch’s Well & Bucket, Oxford Street’s Burlock, Kansas Smitty’s from Hackney, Merchant House and London restaurant Pitt Cue.

For the London competition, Marussia Beverages partnered five top London bars by giving them two five-litre new French oak barrels each for creating a barrel-aged cocktail with Mezan rums over a six-week period.

Entries ranged from the ‘Jamaican in New York’, a modern Caribbean twist on a classic Manhattan, to a the ‘Shaddock’s Odyssey’, a liquid history lesson inspired by the story of the legendary trader Captain Shaddock, who traded between Asia and Jamaica during the 17th century.

In a democratic move, the guests were the judges and the victors were decided after a Mezan Rum tasting session and a series of cocktail tastings.

After attendees had tried all the cocktail creations on offer they voted for their favourite in a secret ballot.

Dario Cavaliere of Pitt Cue finished the night victorious with his creation, the Rum Cherie which combined Mondino Amaro, Antica Formula vermouth, chocolate bitters and – of course – Mezan Jamaican XO Rum, aged together in the barrel.

Dario and Pitt Cue’s co-founder, Jamie Berger, won the chance to be taken by Marussia Beverages to Paris for the Cocktails Spirits show which is on June 5 and 6.

They will also be the stars of a guest shift on Monday June 5 at Le Ballroom du Beefclub, whose bartenders Tarek Nini and Adrian Niño won the French final of a similar Mezan Barrel Challenge for Parisian bars.