Tiki Bars & Drinks Not Part Of This Spirits Trend
There are always shifts in the spirits industry when one liquor becomes the trendy thing to drink. Recently it was bourbon. And now it’s rum.
High-end rum.
According to the IMSR, a liquor and wine information source, high-end rum sales increased by 7.7 % to just more than $2 billion in in 2014. IWSR predicts this will continue during the next five years, although overall sales of rum will continue to slightly decline; it was down 2.7% in 2014 to $17 billion.
But enough of statistics. PubClub.com considers it good news that rum is finally being recognized for more than something you will find in a tiki bar.
Trend May Cause Bars To Offer More Rum Choices
Perhaps this trend will force bars – particularly in the USA, which is the world’s biggest consumer of rum – to carry more than the basic Bacardi white (the Bacardi 8-year-old is an excellent rum, by the way).
Look up at the shelves of nearly any bar and you’ll see big selections of bourbon, probably a few tequilas and more vodkas than you can count. But only higher-end bars and restaurant-bars have much more than Bacardi or Sailor Jerry (a cheap thrill, quite frankly).
Appleton and/or Cruzan are two quality rums that should be behind every bar. PubClub.com prefers dark rum from the Caribbean. High-end rums from Central America actually taste kind of like bourbon.
Ultra-premium rums are actually sipping rums, much like high-end tequilas, bourbons and whiskeys. But having something better than Bacardi to put into drink mixed with juices is something that would be welcome by lovers of rum.
And yes, those true rum lover even love tiki bars and tiki bar drinks, although some may scoff at both.
“We want to stay away from the cheeky Tiki-Polynesian style,”a bartender at Mabel in Pris, which serves high-end rums told the BBC. “Good rum deserves more respect than to be sold in a blue drink.”
Obviously, he’s never had the Mai Tai at the Royal Hawaiian on Waikiki Beach. Or been to a real tiki bar. Or been to the Caribbean where the Drinks of the BVIs contain a lot of god rum.
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