El Dorado Demerara Rum, general sponsor of this year’s TOTC, assembled together an all-star lineup, including master distiller Shaun Caleb, on hand for a now expanded to maximum capacity spirited dinner, “A True Taste of Demerara.” Chef Brian Landry of Borgne along with an international cocktail- making dream team bring careful attention to all things from the sea and land local and fresh, attention to cultural traditions, and of course, a love of food and good drink to the spirited dinner on Thursday, the 18th at 7:00 p.m. Mr. Caleb will also be available during El Dorado’s Snack Stand event at the Hotel Monteleone. These are just two of many events taking place over July 17th to the 21st in some of New Orleans’ coolest spots to enjoy a taste of great cocktails, informative seminars, competitions and award ceremonies, and of course, the spirit of the Big Easy.
Chef Landry’s carefully-crafted menu will have some amazing companions for the nearly sold-out evening, thanks to a team of folks passionately driven towards a true enjoyment and love for spirits. With a love for collaborative cocktail creations, the team includes Adam Seger, creator of the welcome cocktail for the 84th Academy Awards and founder of HUM Botanical Spirits. Adam is also mixologist for iPic Entertainment in the US and for Woobar at The W Singapore Sentosa Cove in Asia. Matty Durgin is bar director at Toro NYC, avid rum collector and International Rum Ambassador and educator of all things fermented cane. A little ways from the Caribbean, but still lovers of rum, the team also includes Zdenek Kastanek, final four two years in a row for Tales of the Cocktail Best International Bartender. From the Czech Republic, Tokyo- and London-trained 'Zee' is a spirits evangelist for Proof & Co, El Dorado's master importer and distributor in Singapore and HongKong along with Michael Callahan, renowned San Francisco garden to glass mixologist. Michael moved to Singapore to open 28 HongKong Street, just named to Top 10 Bars in the World. Michael works with Zdenek on evangelizing El Dorado and all things craft in Asia. And finally, Rodrick Markus, master tea blender and CEO, Rare Tea Cellar. From The Travel Channel to the front page of the Chicago Tribune, Rodrick is quickly becoming recognized as the go-to-guy for rare botanicals in the U.S. with clients from Grant Achatz at Alinea and Aviary to the tearoom that Park Hyatt D.C. designed specifically for his library of vintage pu-ehr.
El Dorado’s flagship 15, along with our 12, both blended from four of the oldest working stills in the world and solera-aged under a tropical climate, are certainly becoming more and more familiar in award- winning cocktails, and will be featured in the team’s paired cocktails along with ingredients that elevate these rums to new tasting heights. The end of the evening, however, will also see an appearance from our single-distillate rums, aged a minimum of 12 years and crafted from the heritage stills, including Navy wooden pot stills that provided rum for the British Royal Navy for centuries.
On Wednesday, the 17th, from 2:00 to 3:30 in the Hotel Monteleone lobby, they’ll be serving yummy pistachio ice cream with Barritt's Bermuda Stone Ginger Beer and of course, El Dorado's Demerara Spiced Rum, distilled from some of the oldest working stills in the world with the addition of all-natural Caribbean spices. This year they’ll bring a delicious, grown-up soda float with a candied rum-cherry on top for an afternoon summertime respite.
