… slideshow requires JavaScript.
Right after Puerto Rican native Yolimar Bravo heard about … of La Placita, a new Puerto Rican restaurant in Miami’s busy … American television star raised in Puerto Rico. But the mural apparently doesn …

Powered by WPeMatico

 

By the Caribbean Journal staff

It just might be the most luxurious all-inclusive resort in the Dominican Republic — and now it’s officially open.

The new $110 million Grand Reserve at Paradisus Palma Real has officially made its debut in Punta Cana, the first of its kind in Melia’s Paradisus portfolio, and the third Paradisus to open in the country.

“Meliá Hotels International continues to show its dedication to investing in the Dominican Republic region and adding to its world-wide luxury portfolio,” the company said in a statement. “Representing distinctive values, heritage, and personality, Meliá Hotels International’s various brands are found in iconic hotspots and undiscovered gems across the globe.”

The circle-shaped resort has a totla of 288 rooms ranging from 800 to 3,000 square feet, with the suites featuring either one or two bedrooms and amenities like balconies with whirlpool tubs, full-fledged dining areas and swim-up suites.

All of the swim-up suites come with direct access to an exclusive pool, Melia said.

The resort also has what Melia is calling an “immersive culinary program,” with 14 restaurants and bars ranging from a steakhouse with an open kitchen to a ceviche and poke bar.

The dining concepts also include the Domenica Gastro Hall, a new take on the traditional all-inclusive buffet, along with a beach club that will, uniquely, feature all-day dining.

That’s along with a first for Paradisus,the Black Oak “modern take on your classic cigar bar.”

All guests at the Grand Reserve will have “complete access” to the flagship Paradisus Palma Real, the YHI Spa, five pools and 15 other restaurants, including Passion by noted Spanish Chef Martin Berasategui.

The property is also home to a full-service spa in collaboration with beauty brand Natura Bisse, along with a complete fitness program.

The property also includes 144 suites for members of Melia’s Circle By Melia vacation membership program — meaning a total of 432 suites in the building.

For more, visit the Grand Reserve at Paradisus Palma Real.

— CJ

The post The Dominican Republic Has a New Luxury All-Inclusive appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

Powered by WPeMatico

 

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Jamaica is set to host the Caribbean’s leading travel conference at the end of next month.

The 2019 edition of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association’s Caribbean Travel Marketplace conference will be held Jan. 29-31 at the Montego Bay Convention Center.

“Jamaica is synonymous with exceptional hospitality, world renowned culture and incredible beauty. We look forward to continuing to offer our participants a high quality program to engage with industry peers and promote travel to our region,” said Frank Comito, chief executive officer and director general of the CHTA.

The conference brings together more than 1,000 delegates from 26 Caribbean countries to meet with buyers from more than 20 markets around the word.

This year’s event is expected to see an increase in both buyers and suppliers, organizers told Caribbean Journal.

“I am very pleased to announce that Jamaica will once again play host to an important tourism event,” said Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett. “It is an incredible achievement for our country and I am certain we will reap significant benefits.”

For more info, visit Caribbean Travel Marketplace.

— CJ

The post Montego Bay Readies for Caribbean Travel Marketplace appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

Powered by WPeMatico

… with the flag of Puerto Rico — because the owners … to open Friday, celebrating Puerto Rican culture and its cuisine. … the owners’ Puerto Rican roots, they commissioned Puerto Rican-born artist Hector … the building as the Puerto Rican flag. The project attracted …

Powered by WPeMatico

 

By Alexander Britell

Much is told and retold these days of pot stills and column stills, of molasses and cane honey and cane juice, of dunder and esters and yeast.

These are all essential to the art of rum making — but they are also only the very beginning of the story.

Because the stories of the greatest rums often truly start in the barrel.

It’s in the barrel that a rum gets its color, its soul. It’s in the barrel that a rum gets its personality.

It’s where the alchemy of aging happens, where the rum and the barrel dance and move and fuse.

Barrels teach the rum what it will be, shaping it, edifying it, stamping it, a years-long conversation that eventually finds its way into your glass.

This is why so much attention is now being placed on the barrels themselves — about the science of char profiles, of the kind of wood used to make the barrels, and — most notably, about what was inside the barrel in its earlier life. (The impressive work in this regard of Martinique’s Rhum HSE comes to mind.)

It’s the latter that has preoccupied many brands of late: using barrels that once held other spirits, from sherry to white wine to whisky – to “finish” the rum, taking an aged rum and sending it for reeducation for months or even years in a foreign cask.

It’s a welcome trend, one that is being mirrored in other drinks, and one that is only helping to cement the perception of rum as a sophisticated, premium spirit.

But the results are mixed.

Sometimes rummakers overdo it.

Some cask finishes taste far too much of the “former” spirit (to the point that one wonders if they’ve actually added port or sherry to the finished product).

Others are so subtle as to make the entire “finishing” process feel like a waste of time.

That’s not the case, however, with one of the newest expressions from Martinique’s Rhum Depaz, the famous volcano-set distillery on the outskirts of Saint Pierre.

This is the Rhum Depaz Rhum Vieux Agricole Hors D’Age Finition En Futs de Porto, a long way of saying Depaz’s Port Cask Finish.

It’s a rhum agricole that’s first aged for at least eight years in small oak barrels.

It then spends another 11 months in ex-port barrels.

So what’s it like?

The aroma is wonderful: candied fruit, chocolate-covered cherries, cassis.

It’s a medium bodied rum but a delicate one, too, with notes of wood and caramel, starting off subtly until it begins to glow, with prune and charred oak and a hint of white wine and vanilla.

It’s here where you begin to taste the marriage of the barrels, of the two lives the rum has lived already, two stories told at once.

Yes, the port is here, rounding the edges of a typically robust (45 degrees) Depaz; it doesn’t overpower but it’s also not forgotten, smiling around the rum and giving it another layer of personality.

This is an exceptional cask finish rum — it takes an already impressive agricole and gives it a new dimension, injecting the absolute value of the port without substituting in its character.

The finish is spicy and playful, free from pretentiousness and unnecessary sweetness.

This is a truly marvelous rum — and as good a cask finish rum as I’ve ever tried — and a story you can enjoy over and over again.

Rum Journal Review: 95 Points

The post Rum Journal: A Very Special French Caribbean Rhum appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

Powered by WPeMatico