RumFest is not just a chance to try different rums, but also to increase your education on the subject.  Once you start digging into rum, there seems to be one connection that’s very difficult to avoid: Tiki!  If only because it’s usually wearing a very loud Hawaiian shirt!

TheFloatingRumShack.com enjoyed Jeff ‘Beachbum’ Berry’s Tiki talk last year which discussed the history of the Mai-Tai (a very important subject to those in the ‘know’) and so we were really chuffed to hear that the ‘Bum will be back again this year.

We asked Jeff what his ‘Potions of the Caribbean’ talk was all about.

“Potions of the Caribbean is a slide-show talk — with drinks — about the influence of Caribbean drinks on the Tiki era — and, to come full circle, the later influence of Tiki on Caribbean drinks, when the islands transformed themselves into “Hawaii In The Atlantic” to lure the Tiki-obsessed post-war tourist trade.  Guest star Martin Cate, of Smuggler’s Cove rum bar in San Francisco, rounds out the bill.”

Beachbum Berry is a well travelled, highly entertaining speaker whose depth of knowledge in all things Tiki (cocktails and culture) is unparalleled.  If you’re a fan of tiki, then you will not want to miss this presentation!

Don’t just take our word for it though:

Review of Beachbum Berry’s Potions of the Caribbean seminar at Tales Of The Cocktail, New Orleans:

“The most hilarious seminar I saw was Saturday morning’s “Potions of the Caribbean: Lost Cocktails from the Post-War Playground.”  Marleigh Riggins, who writes the blog SLOSHED, wrote that the seminar had “the single best PowerPoint presentation I’ve ever seen and we learned about the rather dubious ways that sailors acquired rum on the high seas (it involves pickled dead monkeys); the very storied role that Cuba played not only in classic but in tiki cocktails; the flavor profiles native to various Caribbean Islands; and tasted four great drinks.”

– Judy Walker, “New Orleans Times-Picayune