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Saturday, January 7, 2012

Tis' the Season for a Holiday Punch Competition & Toy Drive

The Rum Collective joined forces with Seattle Gin Society this holiday season in a Toys for Tots fundraiser to donate money and gifts to local area children. What could be more satisfying than drinking rum and gin punch to bring smiles to the faces of young children at Christmas? Guests witnessed a 
festive punch competition mixed with drawings for cool raffle prizes and topped up with some fine holiday spirits! Liberty's back room set the stage with two punch bowls, one featuring Citadelle Gin and the other, Plantation Rum Barbados 5yr Grand Reserve. Which punch will win?


Plantation Barbados 5yr Grand Reserve Rum Punch

Garrick Club Punch

 







   vs.













Punch by David Wondrich
(One of the raffle prizes)
 
Plantation Barbados 5yr Grand Reserve Rum and Citadelle Gin are spirits of Cognac Ferrand. This Plantation rum is a blend of rums sourced from Barbados and aged for five years before being transported to France, where it is carefully finished in French oak. This remarkable blended rum not only comes through wonderfully in a punch but is complex and smooth enough to sip. For my Northwest readers, this rum is now in Washington State and if you can find it, you may not believe its affordability at $23.10 per bottle! Don't miss this opportunity to try it and stock up for the winter.







Plantation Barbados 5yr Grand Reserve Rum Punch
Punch was served and the lines between gin and rum folk became blurred. I will mention, there were a few converts. Such is the charm of rum! The thirst for more punch, however, was unanimous. As the decibel level began to rise with more and more overflowing and slightly exagerated tales from the punch bowl, the donations filled the back wall and it was clear this fundraiser was a success. We managed to generate $250 and 12 new toys in donations for the Toys for Tots Foundation. Awesome!



The two punch recipes used are provided below:

Plantation Barbados 5yr Grand Reserve Rum Punch
One of sour (lime juice), two of sweet (simple syrup)
Three of strong (Plantation Rum), four of weak (equal parts orange and pineapple juice) 
Five dashes of bitters (Liberty's house bitters)
Garnish: orange slices and grated nutmeg


Garrick Club Punch
4 lemons
0.5 cups superfine sugar
1 cup fresh lemon juice strained
750ml Gin (Citadelle)
4 oz Combier
24 oz club soda or seltzer water
Garnish: clove studded lemon


A Few of the Donated Toys

The Rum Collective would like to recognize Rocky Yeh and Cognac Ferrand for their support!

Cheers to Keith Waldbauer, Andrew Friedman and the staff at Liberty for being fantastic hosts and facilitating another successful event!!!

A round of applause to all the guests who attended and provided donations! Thank you!!



Addendum: In the spirit of good sportsmanlike conduct, the Garrick Club Punch won by several votes. The only rational explanation I can offer for such a result is that those in the Gin Society may have been influenced by peer pressure. The character of a rum drinker, as history has shown, are freedom loving and full of independence in their words and deeds. I will also add those in The Rum Collective were outnumbered two to one by Seattle Gin Society members. Of course this calls for a rematch next December Seattle Gin Society!

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