HISTORY OF MOUNT GAY: Mount Gay Rum, part of the Remy Cointreau portfolio, is called the “rum that invented rum” because it dates back to 1703. Sir John Gay was a businessman who worked tirelessly in service of the island of Barbados. A friend called John Sober inherited a then-unknown distillery and asked for Sir John Gay’s help in managing it. He quickly took to the business of making rum, refined the distillation process and began producing what we know today as Mount Gay Rum.

 

 

To celebrate World Rum Day on August 16, Mount Gay Rum held a select pairing with ITC’s hand-rolled cigar, Armenteros, at the Royal Calcutta Turf Club on Friday evening. Cigar educator Kajal Malhotra (picture above, in white), went around explaining the pairing of Mount Gay Eclipse Handcrafted Rum and Mount Gay XO Reserve Cask Handcrafted Rum with the cigars. “The rum has a fruity taste and a base of apricot and banana with hints of vanilla. The cigar starts with a cinnamon flavour and then gets more spicy — it’s the only cigar that can live up to the strength of the rum,” said Kajal.

The best way to have the Eclipse, the creation of which was inspired by the twin phenomena of a total solar eclipse and Halley’s Comet? Fill the glass with ice, add rum and top it up with cola/ soda or ginger ale with a lime wedge for garnish. Rum-based mojitos and snacks from Savourites also did the rounds on Friday.

Pictures: Rashbehari Das

Holy smoke

Know your cigar: A cigar has three parts — the wrapper, the binder and the filler. The wrapper, made of tobacco leaf, is the most expensive part of the cigar.