2024 Rum Festival Schedule

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Dec 062023
 

MOVED TO THE RIGHT SIDEBAR

Each year for the last two years I have tried to post a constantly updated calendar of all rum festivals around the world for those who need such a thing to plan holidays, abscond from soused spouses or otherwise plot malfeasance with similarly minded rum chums. The post remains a peculiarly unread part of this site, but I find it so useful that to stop curating it strikes me as a sort of diss to dedicated rumistas and business types (you know who you are) who need a facility of this nature to tie together the major and minor shows of the year. So welcome to 2024’s initial listing. It’s a first pass, with many festivals remaining undated and unconfirmed so far.

The listing is in three sections: the main confirmed events, the single-organisation events that have multiple festivals over the entire year, and the unconfirmed items which will be reviewed every month or so to make sure they’re properly included in the “Live” area.

For the most part I have excluded whisky and other spirits expos unless they have a significant rum component of their exhibition (like Whisky Live, for example).  However, this year will include some larger trade fairs and expos that are about the spirits industry as a whole (although there is no guarantee of completeness here as I lack the time to research more). Also included is the 2nd German Armagnac festival, just because I felt like it and because many German rum lovers helped start it, so a hat tip and helping hand is in order for all of them.

Still, for all that, it is heartening to see how many events crowd the calendar, not just in Europe but around the world; and while Canada and South America continues to lag and Africa is barely represented, the sheer variety of geographical dispersion — from Asia, Europe (including the eastern side), USA, the Caribbean and Australia — must surely represent a greater appreciation for the wide variety of rums out there, and who makes them. It’s good to see so many and I hope that more will be initiated in the years to come.

This is one of those posts where I actively solicit user input; there are new events springing up all the time and some will be missed in the first posting; however, long time readers will know I regularly update the post and FB with new events or changed dates / venues as news becomes available. Please contact me if I have left anything out, have made a mistake, or if you have better info on dates.

CONFIRMED EVENTS

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

  • TBA

SINGLE ORGANISERS WITH MULTIPLE EVENTS

  • Bar Convent Trade Show
    • Oct Berlin (see above)
    • Jun Brooklyn (see above)
    • Jul São Paolo (see above)
    • Nov Singapore (Website)(FB)(IG) – exact date TBA
  • Pro Wein Trade Show
    • Mar Dusseldorf, Germany (see above)
    • Apr Tokyo, Japan (see above)
    • Apr Singapore (see above)
    • Nov Mumbai, India (see above)
    • Nov Shanghai, China (see above)
    • 2025 Hong Kong, China, dates TBA
  • Gin & Rum Festival, UK – Multiple Cities (tickets)10
    • Apr 05-06 Birmingham
    • Apr 13 Swindon
    • Apr 20 Cardiff
    • Apr 27 Bristol
    • Jun 01 Derby
    • Jun 08 Lincoln
    • Jun 22 Leeds
    • Jul 06 Stoke-on-Trent
    • Jul 20 Peterborough
    • Jul 27 Reading
    • Aug 03 Bournemouth
    • Aug 10 Colchester
    • Aug 16-17 Glasgow
    • Aug 31 Swansea
    • Sep 07 Manchester
    • Sep 14 Brighton
    • Sep 21 London
    • Oct 05 Northampton
    • Oct 12 Edinburgh
    • Oct 26 Liverpool
    • Nov 02 Cheltenham
    • Nov 16 Newcastle
    • Nov 23 Sheffield
  • The “Gin to My Tonic” Gin, Rum and Vodka Festival, UK – Multiple Cities (FB)(IG)(Tickets)11
    • Feb 03 Colchester
    • Feb 10 Harrogate
    • Mar 02 Cheltenham
    • Mar 02 Liverpool
    • Mar 09 Exeter
    • Mar 23 Birmingham
    • Apr 20 Reading
    • Apr 27 Shrewsbury
    • May 03-04 Manchester
    • May 04 Aylesbury
    • May 18 Nottingham
    • Jun 07-09 Faringdon, Oxfordshire
    • Jun 14-15 Dumfries
    • Jun 15 Bury St. Edmunds
    • Jun 22 Newcastle
    • Jul 05-06 London
    • Jul 13 Salisbury
    • Jul 13 Christchurch
    • Jul 20 Truro
    • Jul 26-27 Cardiff
    • Aug 16-17 Perth
    • Sep 06-07 Swindon
    • Sep 14 Winchester
    • Sep 21 Selby
    • Oct 12 Bristol
    • Oct 12 Bournemouth
    • Oct 25-27 Glasgow
    • Nov 08-10 Aberdeen
    • Nov 30 Brighton
    • Nov 30 Bexhill

AS YET UNCONFIRMED AND UNDATED – Last Checked 13 March 2024

The events listed below are brought forward from 2023, but not yet programmed. Indicated months are from 2023 but there is no guarantee they will be slated for the same month in 2024 so exercise caution when planning them. When dates are posted and locked, entries here will be deleted and moved to the main section above.

  • Feb West Palm Beach Tropical Rum Fest (postponed from 2023)(FB)
  • Feb Guyana Rum Festival (postponed from May and Nov 2023)(FB)(IG)
  • Mar I Hart Rum Festival, Melbourne Australia (FB)
  • Aug Fukuoaka Rum Festival, Japan *no website or social media presence

DORMANT / CANCELLED / NOT HELD IN 2023

(Included for completeness; all will be deleted from this list if no event is held in 2024)

 


Footnotes

  1. This is a trade and professional conference, not a festival
  2. General F&B expo with about 30 rum exhibitors
  3. Mostly wine but significant rum and spirits booths
  4. No rums, sorry
  5. Combines Stockholm Rum & Caribbean Drinks Fest
  6. Previously Brooklyn Rum Festival, though it still takes place there
  7. Seminars and tastings throughout the week; multiple venues
  8. Note: no social media page yet; Part II of the Abidjan Rum Festival from April
  9. BRE is a one-week tour and educational symposium for Barbados rum promotion, plus events and participant parties; it is not, strictly speaking, a festival. Does not include WIRD
  10. This is a multiple-location series of events throughout the UK, the tickets link provides a city by city calendar
  11. This is also a multiple-location series of events throughout the UK, the tickets link provides a city by city calendar

  2 Responses to “2024 Rum Festival Schedule”

  1. Cave saint seurin says:
    December 8, 2023 at 4:00 am

    You have fest armagnac in Bordeaux !

    http://www.festarmagnac.fr

    9 mars 2024

    Reply
  2. Mark Williams says:
    January 12, 2024 at 3:54 am

    Thank you Lance – your ongoing collation and updating of this list is indeed invaluable, and greatly appreciated, by both the enthusiast and business types alike (of which I am both!)! Great to have met you at the TWE Rum Show last July in London, with the two Luisita marques! Cheers and hi from Manila, Mark Williams

    Reply

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