SAILOR, spiritual or just a plain lush, time flies when you're having rum.
And this Friday and Saturday, the shops, bars and restaurants of the Albert Dock will be awash with the light, the dark and the spiced. Yes it's time for the annual rum festival - complete with Caribbean grub and live music from the tropics.
Leading the jollity will be The Smugglers Cove which will be holding a series of rum tastings, led by specialists talking you through samples from its vast collection, all serenaded by a steel drum band and jerk chicken specials to turn up the heat this miserable March.
READ: Review: the Smugglers Cove
Elsewhere, there will be rum-based cocktails available at Circo, Gusto, What’s Cooking?, PANAM and Revolution, free tastings of Pusser’s Gunpowder and Pusser’s Spiced Rum at Nauticalia, while Costa Coffee will be catering for the teetotallers with its fruity Caribbean-themed coolers.
La Crepe Rit on The Colonnades will also be serving up rum-flavoured flambés, while rum cake and other Caribbean-inspired dishes will be made fresh on the day at Vinea.
Clare Rawlinson, marketing manager, Albert Dock Liverpool, said:
“Albert Dock Rum Festival is an opportunity to celebrate the city’s rich mercantile past, a time when the docks were a gateway to the world, and imported rum enriched Liverpool’s fortunes. Many of our bars and restaurants will be getting into the tropical spirit, and we encourage as many visitors as possible to come down to the dock over the two days to soak up the exotic atmosphere and take advantage of the many special deals on offer.”
Don't forget to drink responsibly, or whatever.
NAVAL GAZING: Rum Dos at the Albert Dock this weekend (Friday/Saturday, March 4/5)
The Smugglers Cove
• Steel drum band performance - 3-4pm, 5-6pm on Friday and Saturday
• Rum tastings - £20 per person, eight spaces each tasting, tasting eight rums in 90 minutes (Friday - 3pm, 6pm) (Saturday - 1pm, 3pm, 5pm - 5pm tasting is hosted by Chairman’s Reserve)
• Rum flights - five samples of rum for £9.95
Revolution
• Signature cocktail - “Ember of the docks"- a fierce and fiery combination of spiced rum and sharp lime, relished together in fresh mint and Tabasco
Circo
• Saturday - £5 rum cocktail offers
• All staff dressed as pirates
• Two-hour masterclass on Saturday and tasting at 4pm - £10 per person (only 25 places available)
PANAM
• *2-4-1 on rum cocktails all weekend (*selected cocktails)
Gusto
Friday - 5-7pm - all rum cocktails at £4.95
Vinea
• Rum cake and Caribbean-inspired dishes made fresh on the day
Nauticalia
• Free tasters of Pusser’s Gunpowder and Pusser’s Spiced Rum
• Free crew glass with any purchase of Pusser’s Black Label
• £10 off crew tankards
• £5 off round hip flasks
• 50pc off half gill measure with ANY purchase of alcohol
La Crepe Rit
• Three special rum flambé crepes - banana and chocolate, chocolate and almond, and strawberry and cream - £7.95 each
Costa Coffee
• Fruity, Caribbean-flavoured coolers
What's Cooking?
• Rum cocktails - Mai Tai, Zombie, Caribbean Kiss (£6.75)
• Kraven chicken wings with a sticky rum and brown sugar coating (£5.95 regular, £10.95 large)
