What do you get when you combine a bottle of rum, the same amount of  single cream, 400g of sugar, 2 vanilla pods, dry ice and a few minutes of blending by award-winning bar tenders?

Answer: A very tasty, slightly sinful dessert.

Heston Blumenthal would have been proud. Vapour from the dry ice turned Raoul’s Bar on Walton Street into a chemistry lab. It was the latest Alcademics meeting, where Danny Walker (that’s Danny, not Johnny) showcased Zacapa Rum from Guatemala.

The atmosphere was more birthday party than spirit tasting. Parcels were passed to dance music, an elaborate game of pin the cloud on the mountain showed the height at which the rum was aged, and chemistry created cocktails were all done to impart three items about this rum.


1. Zacapa uses virgin cane sugar honey, which they get from the first pressing of sugar cane instead of molasses.
2. It is aged 2300 metres above sea level.
3.  Zacapa uses the Solera system to age its rum between six and 23 years. A solera system is more common in aging sherry and relies on blending older spirits with younger ones, aging them, then repeating.

 

All of this attention gives the Zacapa rum a honeyed flavour with the smoothness of a good scotch. It can be drunk on it’s own as an after dinner night cap or mixed in a cocktail, like the smoked Zacapa Old Fashioned, another tribute to Blumenthal using a portable smoker which made the bartenders look a bit like mad scientist!

The parties continued as Max Mason opened his new “Big Bang” restaurant at the Castle Quarter. Four hours before the opening party, Max took me inside for a quick, slightly unorthodox, tasting of his wines. We started with a Pinot Noir, then bounced to the whites, hit another red, the rosé and finished with the stickies. It took just under 10 minutes.

All wines on the menu are under £20 a bottle and are sourced from either the Oxford Wine Company or Bibendum.  The wine that surprised me the most was the Hutton Ridge Pinotage Rosé. It is £18 a bottle or £4.25 for a 175ml glass. Although it is from South Africa, it tastes like a French Provençal. It is dry and crisp with none of those sickenly sweet flavours found in new world rosés.

  • You can purchase a bottle of Zacapa from the whiskeyexchange.com for £46.49.

 

Upcoming events:
Monday 15 October, 8PM- The Oxford Alcademics is going to taste the range of Jim Beam bourbons at Raoul’s on Walton Street. This is free to anyone interested in learning more about the spirit, and attendees are entitled to a 30% discount on drinks the rest of the night. My suggestion is get there early.