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It’s Tuesday night, Pauline and I have finished work sharp and we are heading into London for a rum event.  This one’s listed as a press launch of Mahiki’s finest expression of the rum family – a Cognac Cask aged rum.  The event is being held on the 5th floor of Harvey Nichols at the Mahiki Rum Winter Terrace.

It’s been ages since we’ve been to Harvey Nic’s and there will be no time for shopping thanks to lousy traffic on the way.  In fact we turn up about an hour later than the 6.30pm planned start.  The venue is pretty busy when we arrive – and I get a quick pang of nerves – I’ve chosen to honour the Tiki vibe of Mahiki by wearing my red Tiki shirt and there is no one else in sight that’s dressed in a similar vein.  Is this going to go wrong before it starts?

A smartly, efficient and smiling hostess enquiries if we are here for the Mahiki event and we give out names – pleased that we are indeed in the ‘list’.  Our coats disappear from sight and this means that I really have nowhere to hide the shirt – but fortunately a few seconds later we spot Papa Jules (more formally known as Julien Gualdoni) the man behind the rum, talking to another guest and fortunately sporting one of his new, exclusive tropical shirts.  Suddenly, I don’t feel out of place – in fact, I feel rather smug.  Several positive comments from other guests regarding my shirt mean that (I think) I assume an air of someone who knows what’s what.

It turns out that it really is a press launch and pretty much everyone else is actually a journalist!  This is probably a first for us, because most educational events we go to are for the trade – bartending is the main profession.  I don’t think I have met any of the people here except for Emma Davis – friend of TheFloatingRumShack.com and PR guru behind Mahiki rum.  We are not alone for long though.  We are spotted by DJ Hukilau, or Jill as we normally call her and use the opportunity to catch up.

Soon Papa Jules joins us – as welcoming as ever.  A fella so very down to earth and yet at the centre of an empire of ‘cool’ that most could only dream of.  We talk for a while about the rum, the clubs, the future – some on the record, some of it very much off the record, but we can’t hold on to Jules forever – it is his party and we have to share.

TheFloatingRumShack.com has previously tried the Mahiki white and gold rums that have been out for a while.  But we’ve not found a context in which we can bring Mahiki rum to the reader yet.  This event is perfect in this regard.  So many nice little snippets of information that will find their way out in the future...

The cocktails have been really rather nice – ever the perfectionist, Papa Jules tells us he’s not 100% with the mojito – ‘perhaps a little too sweet’ he says.  I can only take the odd sip as I’m driving – a conscious effort as we have work tomorrow and I just know that I’d regret drinking too much.  I ask about the reason for being there – the rum - and Jules grabs some glasses and leads us through the finer points of this rather fine spirit.  I’ll expand on this further in a ‘what we are drinking’ piece, but suffice to say that, there and then I seriously considered leaving the car in London – it is a very, very nice rum!  Other drinks come and go and Pauline takes full advantage.  It’s Shrove Tuesday and pancakes are served – Pauline infuses hers with rum!  Again – good call – go girl!

I think the Mahiki Winter Terrace needs a re-visit very soon.  It’s a rather cool spot to sit and sip a drink whilst watching the sunset!  The little touches are nice – from the Mahiki embroidered fleecy blankets to stave off the chill Knightsbridge air, to the ashtrays which also bear the same cool logo.

The event is due to finish at 8’ish with the focus switching to Mahiki – this time the Mayfair located night club for more cocktails.  It’s not for want of trying, but Pauline and I have never been to Mahiki before – we’ve got as far as the door a couple of times and so it’s with a little excitement that we are looking forward to getting inside this time!

Harvey Nichols cars have been laid on for the journey and we find ourselves riding with Papa Jules, Jill and the lass who seems to be the organiser of the event.  Jules is at work during the ride – not a moment wasted, which pretty much sums up his success.  The phone calls are ensuring that the other guests for the launch are well looked after at Mahiki.  During the conversations I’ve had with Papa Jules – I’ve realised that he likes to be busy!

On entering the club, we head to the bar and it’s not long before a spread of cocktails are laid out in front of us and because I’m going to be driving us home I can take no more than a little taster of each.  All of them are lovely and in actuality I now know my choice to drive was correct – I don’t have enough willpower to resist and Wednesday would have been a write off!

A quick tour of club by Papa Jules himself and we soon find that he’s after a fairly early night.  Early the following morning, his focus will switch to a new bar (currently under construction) and the pending arrival of ten pallets of equipment – which by inference don’t yet have a suitable home!  It’s a head ache I’d love to help out with if I could – but the real world calls and Pauline and I need to head home!

Read more about the rum itself by clicking here!