The 2025 schedule of festivals from The Rum Lab includes the expansion of its Spain conference into two new concepts.
The Rum Lab has been organising festivals and conferences for the last 15 years in the US and Puerto Rico. The platform aims to promote and elevate premium rum.
This year, The Rum Lab hosted its first event outside of the US and Puerto Rico – the Spain Rum & Gin Expo in Madrid on 26 April.
The second Spain Rum & Gin Expo will be held across two days (8-9 May 2025) at Plaza Caleido in Madrid. The Rum Lab’s organiser and president Federico J Hernandez recently relocated to the Spanish capital and has opened the Ti’ Punch Rum Bar, near the Bernabeu Stadium.
The event will kick off with a DaiquiriMania Cocktail Night on 8 May, followed by the grand tasting the next day.
DaiquiriMania is a new concept for The Rum Lab, which will feature vintage music and Daiquiri cocktails.
The company is also preparing to incorporate Spirits Row, a compact area that will showcase a variety of spirits, including whisky, Cognac and gin.
“I appreciate the setup of Whisky Live Paris, and I aim to gradually introduce a small section of alternative spirits at our rum festivals,” said Hernandez.
Next year’s programme
During 2025, The Rum Lab will host events in Miami, Puerto Rico, Texas, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Spain.
More than 180 rums are expected to be available across the majority of events, hailing from countries such as Fiji, Spain, Cambodia, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Venezuela, Guyana, Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Mexico, Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Haiti.
Kicking off the schedule for 2025 will be the sixth Miami Rum Congress from 31 January to 2 February. The Miami event will be held at The Gates Hotels by DoubleTree and the Miami Beach Convention Center.
The Spirits Row and DaiquiriMania concepts will be introduced at the Miami festival.
On 1 March, the second Texas Rum Fest will take place at the 2616 Commerce Event Center in Dallas.
It will be followed by Puerto Rico’s Taste of Rum festival and conference on 29 March. The one-day event will be held at the Puerto Rico Convention Centre in San Juan.
The Historical Logan Square Auditorium will host the ninth iteration of Chicago Rum Fest, also known as the Midwest Rum Fest, on 26 April.
New York Rum Fest will be back for its eighth edition on 7 June, based at 100 Sutton Studio in Brooklyn.
A pop-up version of the Los Angeles Rum Fest will be hosted on the rooftop of The Haas Trademark Collection by Wyndham hotel. Taking place on 11 September, the 2025 edition will be the fourth instalment of the Los Angeles event.
The last stop on The Rum Lab schedule will be the San Francisco Rum Congress and Rum Fest at Trader Vic’s. The 10th edition of the festival will take place over two days, 13-14 September.
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Author: Nicola Carruthers
