GERMAN RUM AWARDS 2018
BEST OF THE SHOW
Rum-Bar White Overproof 63%
Congratulations!
German Rum Awards – the most important national and international award for Rum & Rhum! An international jury, consisting of rum experts, tastes in a multi-day blind-tasting rums of the same categories against each other and evaluates them according to a recognized points system. In each category gold, silver and bronze are awarded.
THE WINNERS
Hampden Estate Pure Single Jamaican Rum, Jamaica, 46%
Worthy Park Single Estate Reserve, Jamaica, 45%
Rum Nation Jamaica 7YO, Jamaica, 61,2 %
Alta Gama Brut Nature, Guyana, 41%
The Real McCoy 12 YO, Barbados, 46%
Alta Gama Sec, Guyana, 41%
Autentico Nativo 15YO, Panama, 40%
Autentico Nativo 20YO, Panama, 40%
Ron 1914 Edicion Gatun, Panama, 41,3%
Saint Aubin White Pot Still, Mauritius, 50%
A1710 La Perle Rare BIO, Martinique, 52%
Rum Nation Ihla de Madeira blanc, Madeira, 50%
Chamarel Gold, Mauritius, 42%
Clement Rhum Vieux Select Barrel, Martinique, 40%
Saint James Ambre, Martinique, 40%
Chamarel XO, Mauritius, 43%
Saint James XO, Martinique, 43%
Rum Artesenal Rhum des Antilles Francaises XO, Gouadeloupe & Martinique, 40%
Saint James Tres Vieux Millesime 2001, Martinique, 43%
Depaz Millesime 2002, Martinique, 45%
Savanna Creol 2007/2016 Cognac Cask, La Reunion, 61,8%
Chamarel VS, Mauritius, 40%
Depaz VSOP, Martinique, 45%
Chamarel VSOP, Mauritius, 41%
Novo Fogo Silver 40%
Cachaca 51, 40%
Delicana Silver, 38%
Novo Fogo Chameleon, 43%
Novo Fogo Barrel-Aged, 40%
Novo Fogo Tanager, 42%
Simon’s Valkyrie Spechteshart, 48,8%
Simon’s Valkyrie ASMN Cherry, 47,3%
Grasbrook German Premium Rum 2 YO, 42%
Rum-Bar Gold, Jamaica, 40%
Koloa Kauai Gold Hawaiian Rum, Hawaii, 40%
Gold of Mauritius Dark, Mauritius, 40%
Companero Gran Reserva, Panama, 40%
Ron Roble Viejo Extra Anejo, Venezuela, 40%
El Pasador de Oro XO, Guatemala, 40%
Rum-Bar, White Overproof, Jamaica, 63%
Navy Island Navy Strength 100% Pot Still, Jamaica, 57%
World’s End Navy Rum, Trinidad & Jamaica, 57%
Rum-Bar Rum Cream, Jamaica, 15%
Koloa Kauai Coffee, Hawaii, 34%
Ti Arranges de Ced’ Mirabelle, La Reunion, 32%
Selected Cask Community Angostura 10YO, Trinidad, 59,1%
Rum Artesenal Single Cask Don Jose 12 YO Cask No. 50, Panama, 57,5%
Selected Cask Community Foursquare 10YO, Barbados, 55,4%
Debonaire Grande Reserve 15, Dominikianische Republik, 38%
Ron Centenario Gran Reserva 25, Costa Rica, 40%
Ron Centenario Fundacion 20, Costa Rica, 40%
Plantation Fiji 2009 Vintage Edition, Cognac Cask, Fiji, 44,8%
Tres Hombres Ed. 25 Old Barbados Rum 12YO, Madeira & Port Finish, Barbados, 41%
Plantation Peru 2004 Vintage Edition, Cognac Cask, Peru, 43,5%
Rum Artesenal Spiced Byer’s Island, Brasilien, 40%
Koloa Kauai Coconut Rum, Hawaii, 40%
Black Palm Vanilla, Deutschland, 40%
Bougainville White, Mauritius, 40%
Enghaven Rum Distillery 100% Pot Still, Dänemark, 45%
Nine Leaves Clear 2017, Japan, 50%
THE JURY
The international jurors – all jury members, all information – transparent!
Lauge Andreas Kjær
Lauge works since 2007 part-time with wine and spirits. It started in a wine cellar of a large department store. Later, in 2014, Lauge began collaborating with Romhatten.dk to produce rum tastings and rum reviews while occasionally writing articles for the Danish magazine Whiskey & Rum.
Leach uses its scientific background to decode the various rums. His palate prefers the highest-grade rums from e.g. Jamaica.
John Gibbons
is an independent liquor ambassador, cocktail lover and rum fanatic.
Since 2010 he is juror for international rum competitions at the Ministry of Rum Festival in San Francisco. Since then, he has evaluated dozens of rum and spirits competitions and events around the world.
In 2011, John worked behind the bar and organized rum events for The Tiki Bar and Kitsch Inn in Glasgow. He also founded the Glasgow Rum Club, which met monthly to spread the knowledge about rum and bring bartenders and curious people in contact with distillers, producers and trainers. The Glasgow Rum Club still meets today.
In 2013, John founded the Rum Symposium, a London-based organization of rum experts and enthusiasts dedicated to supporting and promoting the rum industry. In 2016 he co-founded the Rum Symposium Copenhagen and in 2018 the Rum Symposium Amsterdam.
John's desire to learn and experience everything that exists between growing sugarcane and the finished rum in the glass has taken him to various events, distilleries and rum and sugar production sites around the world, including Trinidad, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Barbados, Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela, Spain, United States, Madeira and more.
Rum has been John's passion for many years and he collected a few bottles as a reference along the way – and because you never know when you need the right one for a special occasion.
This is John's eighth year at the GERMAN RUM FESTIVAL and his seventh year at the GERMAN RUM AWARDS
Marc Battias
I discovered rum/ron/rhum 5 years ago as my passion at the first Rhumfest Paris and this has been a quite new experience for me. I couldn’t imagine where to find rum around world, as the actual claim of the German Rum Festival is this year. What to do? I bought a book to learn more about the world of sugarcane, history … and also i tried a lot different brand and it was very amazing to me.
During the last 5 years, i travelled Cuba, Martinique, Mauritius Island and I still want to visit more and learn more about this most exciting spirit. But I can tell you something: I do prefer rhum! – Rhum from Martinique and Guadeloupe and also from Mauritius but I’m not going to tell you which on as this is a secret.
And the best time to enjoy a glass of rum or rhum is with a good friend combined with a cigar.
Suzanne Long
A well-known figure in the San Francisco Bay Area cocktail scene and the tiki world, Suzanne Long owns and operates Bar Longitude in Oakland, California, a world renowned tropical destination featuring over 500 premium spirits and one of the only house-recipe driven tropical cocktail programs in the world.
Mads Heitmann
Mads is well known for the rum blog Romhatten.dk since 2010. Since then he has written more than 270 rum reviews and many rum articles for Romhatten.dk and the Danish Whiskey & Rum Magazine. Mads has also conducted more than 300 rum tastings throughout Denmark since 2012, and in 2015 co-authored the Danish Book of Rum.
Mads’ favorite rums come from, among others, Martinique, Guyana & Jamaica.
Mads‘ Lieblings-Rums kommen unter anderem aus Martinique, Guyana & Jamaika.
Bernhard Schäfer
Began his professional career as a Spiritsist behind the bar in 1985 while studying sociology. Several years later he gave lectures on various spirits, but mainly whiskey.
is highest accolades are Keeper of the Quaich in 1996 and a Master in 2007. He is co-founder of ENSE (European Network of Spirit Experts). Since 1997 he has been a jury member in various spirits competitions in Europe and since 2010 also in the USA. He is a proud member of RumXP 2012.
His friends say about him: “I would like to spend my holidays with what you call work” and “Why do you wear Hawaiian shirts all summer long?”
Rene van Hoven
I did Technical University in Amsterdam and I’m a fully qualified teacher of food and drinks. When I specialized I became a Spirits educator and finally a Rum specialist. Recently I also became WSET qualified teacher.
I’m an international wine & spirits judge since 2000 and attend at several competitions per year around the world. I’m is also part of Rum Tresor where he sells old Rum (no longer for sale in the shops) per shot to those who can appreciate the good drink and want a sip of Rum history.
My knowledge is not the typical “PR blabla” but the real stories and facts. I’m in the drinks business since 1993 and have seen a fare part of the world of spirits. My knowledge doesn’t stop with Rum. Not only at the end of sales, but also in production. I know products from basis to end product with plenty of technical information. I’m also a journalist and wrote for several national and international magazines. Finally I’m also the author of “Spirits in the Sky”, the book about Zacapa rum.
Lisette Davis
is an independent rum connoisseur, chocolate specialist and hotel operator. The spirited, eclectic entrepreneur has spent the last eleven years mastering rum, a passion that culminated in her decision to open a boutique resort on Grenada Island with everything rum is about.
Rumboat Retreat – the fitting title for the rumfocused resort, immerses guests in rum pairings, masterclasses and rum-infused cuisine, just to name a few. Her unique focus on rum has brought Davis captivating features in the Times Travel, New York Times, Luxuria Lifestyle, E-Turbo News, British Airways and LIAT on-board magazines, to name but a few.
More recently, Davis' fascination with rum has led to the development of gabu-rum-infused candy specialties, which Davis self-produces from start to finish. The customized chocolates are made with the Davis Seal of Approval and are a specialty of upscale events. In her spare time, the former Carib Development Manager for Plantation Rum travels the world of the Rum Awards in Germany, Spain, France and the Bahamas, to name but a few, on behalf of the Grenada Tourism Authority and for private clients in luxury resorts, yachts and on private islands of rum-pairing and masterclasses.
Thanos Prunarus
Nick Feris
Nicholas has been a rum lover and teacher for over a decade. In 2009, he founded Seattle’s first rum company, The Rum Collective; she is the oldest of her kind in the USA. He has hosted over 100 educational rum tastings and has been directly responsible for the successful entry of dozens of rums to Washington, Michigan and Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Carsten Nicholas Prasse
Carsten Prasse took the classical route early and then left, as that’s the kind of guy he is. He got his degree at a school for hotel management, trained and worked in various positions with the Intercontinental luxury hotel chain, and discovered his passion for spirits and bar culture when he was still in training. While working on various hotel and bar concepts, his fascination became the foundation for him to develop and realize his own ideas.
His own personal project, which he began during his training years: each year, Carsten would try a new spirit and focus on it intensively.
His favorite ever since, besides single malt: rum/rhum.
He always returns with new ideas, inspiration, and knowledge from his travels to Scotland, the United States, England and Japan, among others. All these impressions influence the Hefner Bar in one way or another.
Carsten regularly participates in tastings of various spirits, and he gets to experience any field trials first-hand – behind the bar in direct contact with his customers. Rum/rhum especially offers many topics of converation: “The long history behind the spirit, the many different geographical places of origin and production and, of course, the enormous flavor potential offer fascinating stories, whether sitting at the bar or standing behind it. To me, it is one of the most impressive spirits,” says Carsten.
Peter Holland
s half of the married couple’s team behind the Rum Lifestyle website: TheFloatingRumShack.com. Originally started as a hobby to capture their discoveries, the world of rum quickly proved to be an irresistible attraction, and it seemed only natural that all these rumclubs, educational events, liquor contests, judging and visiting rum festivals and rum producers in the Caribbean and beyond inevitably lead to a result.
Eugen Kasparek
Eugen Kasparek has many years of experience in high-end restaurants, specialist retailers, in seminars, as a member of culinary associations, trade visitor at conventions, juror of any number of competitions and last, but certainly not least, as Master of Tasting.
Since 1997, he has been exclusively working with these spirits. His many years of experience, his vast knowledge and his focused sense of taste are his greatest assets when he gives presentations or leads tastings and seminars among experts – equally so when he held one of his famous tastings at the Berlin specialty store Whisky & Cigars. He is the store’s manager and advises a large customer base of laymen, passionate professionals, and international collectors. In 2014, Whisky & Cigars was awarded best whisky shop in Germany.
During his travels around the world, he is always on the lookout for that hidden culinary paradise and the most beautiful spirits. His knowledge of rare spirits is also evident in his expertise regarding whisk(e)y, cognac and rum at the art and luxury auctioneers Auctionata.
Davide Staffa
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