What a difference a year makes! Gubba Rum was virtually unknown 365 days ago when it took New Orleans by storm—a coconut and vanilla-infused tropical storm, that is—at Tales of the Cocktail, the city’s annual summer celebration of spirits. This week Gubba Rum returns to the Big Easy for Tales 2014 after a remarkably busy year in which it has sailed literally around the country, dazzling rum drinkers in port cities from coast to coast.
At the 2014 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, Gubba Rum’s organic, artisanal recipe won it a pair of bronze medals. Back on the East Coast, Gubba Rum did something that most newcomers can only dream of—it sold out a case at the Miami Rum Festival, where it was the surprise hit. And at home in New England, Gubba Rum joined forces this year with a distributor, Hellas Import Ltd., bringing “The Allure of the Caribbean” to dozens of liquor stores and fine restaurants from Cape Cod to Boston, including the renowned comfort food and cocktail mecca of the South End, Back Bay Harry’s.
Now it’s back to New Orleans, this time with a new swagger, where owner Steve Gubb once again will showcase his creations, Gubba Gold and Gubba Silver, at what many call the world’s premier cocktail festival. Tales of the Cocktail runs through Sunday, and will feature a Gubba Rum tasting on Saturday afternoon, 12:00 to 1:30, in the lobby of the historic Hotel Monteleone.
You might say it’s ironic that Gubba Rum is leaving cocktail lovers so shaken and stirred everywhere it goes, because it’s doing it with its impeccable smoothness.
Gubb banked on this smoothness to steal the show in Miami, and his confidence paid off. While other brands mixed their rums in cocktails and relied on eye-catching displays, Gubb took a simple and bold approach for his three days in Florida—he invited people to taste the rum straight. Without fail, Gubba Rum showed why it’s the rum people are calling “very, very smooth.”