The Caribbean’s most exclusive island is the new home of a major Caribbean rum event.

Caribbean Journal’s Caribbean Rum Awards, the region’s leading celebration of premium rums, is coming to St Barth from Nov. 6-10.

The second edition of the event will bring be highlighted by a panel of spirits experts judging some of the most exclusive rums on the planet.

Caribbean Journal is partnering on the event (which will join with the Saint Barth Rum Festival) with the Rhum Room, the largest Caribbean rum bar in the world, and its adjacent Quarter Kitchen and Cocktail Lab.

It’s a new kind of festival for St Barth, long the gastronomic capital of the wider Caribbean.

“We are so excited to bring the Caribbean’s leading celebration of rum to an island that is the Caribbean capital of cool,” said Caribbean Journal Editor and Publisher Alexander Britell. “For years, Caribbean Journal’s Rum Journal has striven to place rum on its rightly-deserved pedestal — and that’s the point of this event — the field will be unlike any other rum festival out there, from some of the most exclusive molasses rums in the world to an unmatched slate of agricole rums.”

The four-day event will include an opening cocktail party on Nov. 5, followed by a full day of rum judging in Gustavia on Nov. 6.

The following day will see a distiller expo featuring a range of boutique Caribbean rum distilleries, while Nov. 8 will feature a Ti’ Punch hour.

The Caribbean Rum Awards will conclude on the evening of Nov. 9 with a rum-and-food pairing dinner helmed by Andrew Zarzosa of the renowned Yuzu Miami restaurant.

The Awards will be unique in the Caribbean, with a field of eight categories of molasses and agricole rums, highlighted by an “ultimate” rum category that will, for the first time in a rum competition, pit the Caribbean’s most rarefied rums against one another, from Ron del Barrilito Five-Star to Havana Club Maximo.

The field will also include six categories of rhum agricole, including Blanc, Blanc 50-degrees plus, VSOP, XO, Cask Finish and Hors d’age, including expressions from both Martinique and Guadeloupe.

There will also be a People’s Choice Panel that will include local rum experts and enthusiasts choosing their favorites from the field of rums in competition.

“We are so excited to be the new home of the Caribbean Rum Awards at the Saint Barth Rum Festival. Our format may not be typical of Rum competitions, but we think it is a great way to go,” said Christopher Davis, proprietor of the Rhum Room and Quarter Kitchen and Cocktail Lab. “First, having an UBER Ultimate Rum category with the most prized Caribbean Rums is exciting; let’s see how these Big Boys play out in a heads up competition, huge bragging rights are at stake, Second, we are honored to have some great guests of Rhum Room flying in to be part of our People’s Choice Panel, rum/rhum/ron aficionados, tasting across all categories and choosing their overall favorite rum of the Festival. From my point of view it doesn’t get any better than this!”

Judges include a diverse range of rum and spirits experts, including Alexander Britell, Guy Britton, Peter Berntsen, Christopher Davis, Guy Ferdinand, Steven Shaw and Simons Chase.

“The panel of judges is comprised of outstanding rum and spirits experts, with the aim of creating an objective array of palates and tastes to give these rums the respect they deserve,” said Guy Britton, managing editor of Caribbean Journal. “And St Barth is the perfect place to do it.”

Caribbean Journal is partnering on the event with Tradewind Aviation, WIMCO, Les Ilets de la Plage, St Barth Properties and SC Capital.

For more, visit the Caribbean Rum Awards or email rum@caribjournal.com.

Quarter Kitchen & Cocktail Lab will be the host of the VIP dinner on Saturday. Nov. 9. For more information or reservations, please contact Hello@25sbh.com.

The event will be another boost for what is an already exciting week in St Barth, with the terrific St Barth Gourmet Festival, the region’s leading culinary event, which is now in its sixth year.

— CJ

The post The Caribbean’s Most Exclusive Rum Event Is Coming to St Barth appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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Puerto Rico’s Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan continues to boom, according to the latest numbers released by Mexico-based parent company ASUR. 

San Juan’s primary air hub reported 526,761 passengers in September, which represented a sizable 8.4 percent increase over the same period in 2018. 

That was buoyed by an 8.6 percent jump in domestic traffic from within the United States, and a 7 percent jump in international traffic. 

For the year, Puerto Rico’s biggest airport is reporting an 11.2 percent increase in passenger traffic, and a total of 7.07 million passengers through the first nine months of 2019. 

It’s another strong sign for Puerto Rico’s crucial tourism sector. 

What’s not yet clear is how the island’s hotel occupancy has fared so far this year. 

Puerto Rico tourism officials could not be reached for comment. 

— CJ

The post Puerto Rico’s San Juan Airport Keeps Booming appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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Surging travel company Apple Leisure Group is adding yet another new resort in the Dominican Republic, the Caribbean’s hotbed of hotel development. 

Apple Leisure Group’s AMResorts subsidiary will be opening its new Dreams Macao Beach Punta Cana in the first quarter of 2020, Caribbean Journal has learned. 

The new all-inclusive Punta Cana resort will open Feb. 21, 2020. 

The family-friendly resort will feature 500 suites, along with a villa component. 

That’s along with nine dining options, of which six will be a la carte eateries. 

The property will also feature a Dreams Spa by Pevonia, with four double-treatment cabins, eight single-treatment cabins, a bridal suite, a spa boutique and a hydrotherapy circuit, among other features. 

The new beach resort will include Dreams’ signature all-inclusive amenities, from no required reservations to 24-hour room (and concierge service) and pool and beach wait service. 

AMResorts has been expanding at a rapid pace in the wider Caribbean Basin, with 2,500 rooms set to have been delivered by the end of this year. 

The Dreams brand has two other all-inclusive resorts in development in the wider region: the 286-room Dreams Curacao Resort, Spa and Casino and the Dreams Acapulco Resort and Spa in Mexico, which will include 605 rooms. 

It’s one of two openings for AMResorts scheduled for the first quarter of 2020, along with the highly-anticipated Secrets St Martin. 

And it’s yet another new resort set to come online in the Dominican Republic, which has focused its efforts on hotel development more than almost any other Caribbean destination in recent years — efforts that continue to pay off in major ways.

“The Dominican Republic is committed to working with the private sector and its government wants to continue growing its hospitality sector, as the tourism industry is currently the strongest job creator,” Javier Coll, executive vice president and chief strategy officer of Apple Leisure Group told Caribbean Journal in a recent interview.

For more, visit Dreams Macao Beach Punta Cana. 

— CJ

The post A New All-Inclusive Hotel Is Coming to Punta Cana appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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… repeated calls to permanently support Puerto Rico’s medically underserved population.
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It’s back in The Bight. 

For years, it was one of the Caribbean’s bucket-list bars: a floating, decommissioned old tanker converted into a beach bar Mecca. 

Then, in 2017, the William Thornton, or Willy T as it was affectionately known, was lost in Hurricane Irma. 

But after its owners found a replacement, and after a year or so of moving around and looking for just the right location, the Willy T has returned to its rightful home in The Bight at Norman Island in the British Virgin Islands, once again a must-stop hotspot on the yachting and sailing circuit in the Caribbean capital of boating.

The newer, larger, very crisp new Willy T is back in action, again drawing travelers from all over the BVI and the world for its frenzied brand of raucous fun. 

There’s even a broad menu, too, from burgers and ribs to salads, desserts and even a wine list. 

But the draw is still the painkillers and the beers and the feeling that you’re in a tiny sliver of a country unto itself, an all-day seaside party that’s one of the unique experiences in all of the Caribbean, a place where time and reality seem to take a break. 

Caribbean Journal visited the Willy T this week for some on-location photography for an idea of what the relaunched bar is like, stopping at the similarly reopened Pirate’s Bight at Norman Island in the process.

Pirate’s Bight reopened for the season on Oct. 4, looking as spiffy as ever in its pristine corner of Norman Island, with an impressive new menu (including the out-of-this-world roasted cauliflower with quinoa) and the same famous blue roofs.

If you haven’t been back to the British Virgin Islands in the last year or so, it’s time to plan your return.

For more, visit the Willy T. 

— C

The post A Legendary Caribbean Floating Bar Is Back in the BVI appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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