Miami Rum Renaissance Festival

Miami Rum Renaissance Festival was everything they advertised it would be and then some. Whether you are a vendor, a connoisseur, or someone looking for a great place to get a sweet buzz this is the place for you. I enjoyed the event as the latter of the three & found it to be fun, delicious, and informative.
There seemed to be a never-​ending & seemingly growing number of booths to experience. Every time I turned around I would find a new area which I previously did not notice. Some booths had small samples, some had cocktails, and some had both.
My favorite cocktail was Pussers Painkiller Tonic. It was absolutely delicious and they even handed out business cards with the recipe. RumShine also offered a delicious cocktail but by that time I was pretty loaded and neglected to get the details.
Siesta Key was by far my favorite rum of the festival. They offer infused rums sweetened with honey. Their coconut infused rum was the best tasting rum I’ve ever had although it is almost impossible to find in stores because as of now Siesta Key is unable to keep up with the outrageously high demand and I can see why.
There was not much «renaissance» but they did have a live band and a VERY legit Captain Jack Sparrow stumbling around.
For $ 32 on living social (for Sunday) and $ 5 for parking, Miami Rum Renaissance Festival provided an unprecedented amount of bang for your buck. Can’t wait till next year.

By far, this is the best rum festival! Each year there’s always something new to learn. Especially with so many industry experts, brand ambassadors, blenders, and owners, all gathered under one roof. There’s always someone nearby that you can learn from. One addition that I really liked to this year’s festival was the «ask an expert» booths. This is where they had various booths throughout the event with rum experts available to speak with the public and educate them about the spirit.
If you like rum you’ll be in heaven. There’s more rums than you could possibly sample in any given day. That’s what makes it great. Try them neat, on the rocks, or mixed by a top mixologist.
I’ve been to the festival for the past three years and plan to be there for a fourth, fifth, and sixth.
Tip…
Check out all the amazing parties and brand events leading up the week of the festival. This is a must if you want the true full experience!

I have attended this show from the start and if your a rum lover, this is the show for you.

Ok so this show is a must for any serious rum person! Even if you like rum … you will walk away loving Rum!
I am an artist
… My logo is a skull and cross bones, my moms last name is rogers and I am the Pirate from the web comic the devils panties! Pirate is synonymous with Nigel Sade nowadays… So needless to say I am and was the RUM GUY … this show showed me that I knew nothing about rum! now after 3 years I know so much more and there is a world of info yet to know from any of hundreds of people whom are experts in so many areas of Rum and Rum culture.
If you want to know about rum … GO!!!
if you want to drink awesome rums far beyond what you knew existed … GO!!!
If you want to talk about Rum History … GO!!!
if You want to meet the guys that make the Rum … GO!!!
If you like Tiki competitions … GO!!!
Just freakin go … seriously get off your shiny Arse and GO!!!
For the love of all that is good … GO!
and I will see you there!

Being our first time at the Miami Rum festival we had a great time! It was very organized and easy to get around and plenty of rum, what more do you need. We will be back next year!

One of the few events in this country that covers or explores rum in and of itself.
Highlighting both the culture and experience of rum through tasting and workshops in a large event space with large numbers of rums and tiger actual producers (not just some clueless sales people or hired talent). It gives a complete immersive experience into the world of rum.

This is the event of the year in my calendar … EPIC is the most appropriate description. A rum enthusiasts paradise. The folks running this event out do themselves each year and I am grateful for their efforts. I agree with the others who urge those just looking for a buzz to stay home. This is an event for experienced adults who know how to hold their drink and pace themselves and who appreciate the finer things in life… RUM. #rumisfun

The Miami Rum Festival is one of those events that I look forward to every year, I has grown and as a result has become less intimate, but none the less a fun place to be for a week in April. The economy has a lot to do with the size, and like so many other events grows and shrinks from year to year.
I find it a fun event for the rum lover that really wants to know something about rum, you can meet with the people that produce it and enjoy a fun tasting of great rums.

This rum festival is the best one in the world and we’re lucky to have it here in Miami. If you’re just looking to drink a bunch of rum in a short amount of time, don’t waste your money. This is an event for rum enthusiasts and those that are truly looking to increase their knowledge of rum. No tickets are available at the door, so the number of people admitted is limited each day. Three day passes for Friday, Saturday, Sunday are $ 100, but you can get a special two for one discount code if you take the rum quiz on the web site. $ 50 one day passes are available and $ 75 two day passes allow entrance Saturday and Sunday. Many brands were showing new rums for the first time, delicious spirits being discovered by the enthusiastic rum lovers in attendance.

I have attended the Miami Rum Festival for the last five years and each year it gets better. Where it used to be held at the Deauville Hotel on Miami Beach, it was moved to the Doubletree Hilton Convention Center near the airport in Miami. The result was a huge space for the vendors. The Deauville was nice, don’t get me wrong, but the space was crowded at best and shoulder to shoulder packed in the afternoon and parking was on the street or several blocks away.
The Airport convention center was a huge space with room to speak with vendors, try the rums, enjoy the contests and entertainment, relax in the sitting area or have a light lunch from the vendors in the back (yes, there were vendors for food and a sitting area to eat near the escalators) and the Cuban pork with fried plantains was pretty good.
There were also seminars in smaller rooms (upstairs) discussing such esoteric items as different distilling techniques of Guyana rums, how to make your own Bitters or how to taste like a judge.
The VIP pass is the way to go since you can get in early and speak with the rum experts (judges, vendors and master blenders).
The parking appeared to be easy however I stayed at the hotel since I never drink and drive.

I have been to four Rum Renaissance Festivals and it gets better every year. If you are a true rum fan you cannot miss this event. I highly recommend getting there early or, even better, getting the VIP pass for a bit more money. You can meet the master blenders and the owners of rums from around the world. AND you get to taste all of them, on their own and in specialty cocktails. This is truly the weekend for the rum geeks. Bring a designated driver.
If you just want to have a fun, rum filled afternoon stick to the main floor. Rums from everywhere to try, even brand new rums not available at your liquor store. Many of the rum companies have fun items to take home. I have some really great items in my bar I use all the time from Rum Fest.
I recommend spending the extra $ 25 and getting the VIP pass and meet some of the ‘mucky mucks’ of the rum business. Impress your friends with your rum knowledge at your next party. Ha. The event has been at the MACC the last two years. Lots of parking, lots of room. I think it was $ 5 to park.

Rather than write a review I will post this video of the 2014 festival and let you decide for yourself whether or not «Rum Is Fun!»

Makes me sad to do this but it must be done.
This was my third year in attendance at this festival. My first year, it was a great event but the space was too small and there was NO parking. Hence, the move to the DoubleTree Hotel. Last year’s event at this space was awesome! Soooo many vendors, sooooo many rums to taste, the right amount of attendees. Popping!
This year?! No. No. Nope.
Thank goodness we planned to and did arrive at 3:30pm even though General Admission doors were not slated to open until 4:00pm. There was already a line but once it started moving, we were inside the event space within 10 minutes. I’ve heard that anyone who arrived at 4:00pm had a totally different and very negative experience getting inside. Overall, there seemed to be a doubled attendance from at least last year’s event. Tooooo many people. You shouldn’t sell just to sell tickets, it should be capped at a certain amount to make sure attendees have a good time, particularly when the number of vendors on hand has decreased.
Once inside, it appeared to be as many vendors as previous years. However, upon walking through the space, it became apparent that was not the case. There was definitely a lower amount of vendors this year. But undeterred, we pressed on to try as many of the rums on hand as we could.
The event was advertised as running from 4:00pm until 7:00pm. Things started to noticeably quiet down around 6:00pm but it was at 6:15pm that I myself looked around and saw that the vendors were breaking their booths down completely. Some had already cleared their tables. There was no announcement made to guests and that was very disappointing to me. If a 3-​hour event is being cut down to 2-​hours, people who paid for a 3-​hour event should be informed. Then again, I guess you don’t want to tell hundreds of people who’ve paid for an event that they are about to get cheated out of 33% of it — especially after they’ve been imbibing.
This was a disappointing event. I’ve had such a good time previous years and have been able to walk away with a product I loved and an experience I couldn’t stop raving about. I didn’t have that experience this time and I am just disappointed. I won’t be back.

Event closed an hour early, so was 4−6pm instead of til 7pm as clearly stated on the event’s own website. Bad planning. A dissappointment among all Miami Rum Festival goers this past Saturday (and I’ve heard the same for Sunday). All vendors were told by event coordinators to close at 6pm sharp. Therefore the tasting/​event was only 2 hours… but even less than that as the disorganization at the long lines to park (no parking so had to create own makeshift «spot» in narrow aisles yet paid $ 5 for a parking «spot») and long lines to get in the door had you in there for only 1.5 hours. As this festival was voted best festival last year, this is a major shortcoming. I have been to this festival the past 4 years and if a festival charges for a ticket and yet closes one hour early and stops serving, it is time to not return. Everyone was highly dissappointed. Vendors and actual event itself gave a great variety of unique rums and knowledgeable servers, but the event coordinators need to not hold an event for 3 hours, yet close one hour early. Can I get an hour of my money back?

Disappointment in 2014: I came last year and liked the event. This year was a whole different story, beginning from the very first moment. There was a long line out front, not monitored in any way. After waiting in line for almost an hour, they opened about seven other doors to the convention center and a whole crowd rushed in and skipped in front of everyone in line. The same sense of careless planning showed in every other part of the festival. Then, two hours after they opened at 4, they stopped serving rum at 6pm, even though the festival was advertised as running until 7. So everyone left disappointed and feeling cheated I will never go again. Save your money.

I’ve been to this festival twice. The first time was when it was in South Beach, the second time was at the Miami Convention Center. The South Beach location was awesome and had views of the ocean, but parking was impossible. The Miami Convention Center is a much more boring location but parking is awesome.
Although I’ve enjoyed this festival, I don’t think I’ll be attending this year. If you haven’t been I’d recommend it, but I don’t think it needs to be done every year.
Pros:
*Lots of drink options.
*There’s always living social, groupons etc for tickets which make it affordable.
*Some fun picture opportunities with pirates, a photo booth etc.
*Take home shot glasses with your entry.
Cons:
*Most of the mixed drinks aren’t that great.
*NO food… maybe a few small samples of a sauce for sale on a chip, but nothing to keep you sober. The first year I went there was food for sale, but it was over priced and awful… so yes you will be leaving heavily intoxicated.

I bought a deal for this event through Living Social and I was fairly impressed. For twenty dollars we could taste all the rum we wanted– both cheap and high-​end. The downside was the location and the type of people the event attracted. There were some very sloppy, questionable people there who were probably attending with all of their baby-​mamas and drug dealing buddies. Ladies, go in groups or with your man. Other than that, it was amazing to chat with vendors and get typsy during the day!

This was my first time to this event and I had an absolute fabulous time! I went on Sunday and purchased my tickets through LivingSocial. I arrived at the event at 3:30 and there were only 2 people in line. There was a ton of parking too. The property did charge $ 5 for parking.
The amount of rums to try is overwhelming at first. There was well over 30 booths with at least 2 samples at each. A variety of mixed drinks were available at most of the booths. This was helpful in trying the rums in a cocktail. There are a ton of rums to try from all over the Caribbean, South America, and Latin America.
The only downfall with this event is the food choices. There really aren’t many and what I purchased was just average at best. I also was expecting a variety of salsas, hot sauces, and other related items to be sold. There was only one booth I could find that sold hot sauces and one booth with rum cakes. I do love the mango hot sauce I purchased. I just was under the impression there would be more options from how the website sounded.
The only odd thing to note was the event ran until 7:00pm but some of the booths and structures were being taken down starting at 6:15pm. There was still 45 minutes left and some places weren’t open at 6:30pm. If the event is being sold until 7:00pm then everything should remain as it is. Take down should be after the event is over.
If I go again next year I would definitely get a hotel room for the night. I believe the Double Tree was actually giving a discount for festival attendees. I felt like I wasn’t able to try as much as I would have liked since I was driving.

WOw, what an afternoon. this time they had it at a different location, parking was a bit of a problem, to say bwtter than SoBe I have to say. check in lines for coupons were: gottahalfit 0 (mines, went straight to desk checked in, boom done,) Groupon 5 living Social 200 people !!! Whewwww
Just like last year so many booths to try, mixed drinks and shots. We decided no shots this year so we could be sober longer, lol, didn’t work. Had to grab a bite 20 min in, already tipsy at this point. line for food was long, only one cashier, Really Damn!!!
food was average, not all drinks were great, not that much variety of vendors this year. That was a little dissapointing, was looking forward to the different rum cakes and salsas :(So in that respect it was better lat year.
But, because I had good company and was tipsy I had a GREAT time, I was walking with a co-​worker and commenting on the beauyiful women and trying out the differnt drinks and wondering where our other two co-​workers were??? Afer the five miin they came up p to us and told us they were behind following us the entire time and cracking up, seeing how we were walking bumping into people and things and wobling through the crowd.
There was no way I was driving at this time or my other co-​worker, so we went to Umami to eat, ordered had thre bites was done. stayed for a bit we were all good enough to drive, got home ate a peice of rum cake I bought, watched tv, then crashed.
Hey I’m recovering so don’t look at the misffafe !!!
Will definitely go each year, it’s a better an more fun experience when with friends.