Rare Rums & Exotic Cocktails

Welcome to the shadowy, seductive, and slightly unhinged world of rum. In this wildly entertaining class, we pour rare, top-shelf rums—some nearly impossible to find—and teach you how to turn them into unforgettable cocktails. This isn’t a frozen daiquiri kind of night. Think aged, oak-kissed spirits with history in every sip.

At the Wine School, we believe great drinks deserve great stories. So we start where America’s love affair with rum began: the raucous taverns of colonial Philadelphia. Back then, rum was more than a drink—it was a political weapon, a currency of rebellion. From there, we head south, boarding pirate ships prowling the Caribbean. We’ll sip alongside buccaneers and privateers, chasing the sugarcane trails through Central America and landing in Cuba for a taste of their legendary solera-aged rums.

But our journey doesn’t end there. We return to America—this time to the palm-frond fantasies of 1930s tiki bars, where bartenders reinvented rum with panache and a splash of pineapple. These post-Prohibition watering holes helped rum shed its outlaw past and step into the exotic limelight.

Expect a little history, a lot of flavor, and a hands-on cocktail lesson or two. We’ll show you how to make a Mai Tai that would make Trader Vic proud—and we’ll crank the music while we’re at it.

You’ll be tasting what one (former) Wine School instructor and bestselling author once called “noble, fragrant, complex, wood-aged rum: the kind of liquor served in snifters and consumed slowly, even reverently.”

Sound a little over the top? Maybe. But so is rum—and that’s exactly why we love it.

June 2018

Building a Drink: Rum & Tonic
aged rum, tonic water, lime juice

Creating a Cocktail: Piña Colada
white rum, cream of coconut, pineapple juice
Add either absinthe or cherry heering.

Mixing a Drink: The Classic Daiquiri
1-ounce white rum, ½ ounce lime juice, ¼ ounce ginger simple syrup

Heaven or Hell?
Add either Elderflower or Green Chartreuse and bitters.

Rare Rums
Diplomatico Blanco Reserve, Venezuela

Hamilton 2004 Vintage Pot Still, Cask Strength, St. Lucia

Travelers “Don Omario” 15 Year, Belize

August 2017

The Cocktails

• Diplomatico Blanco Reserva, Venezuela
• Rhum Barbancourt 8 Years, Haiti
• Combier Liqueur D’Orange, France
• Orgeat
• Falernum

1. The Original Mai Tai (Oakland)

2. The Classic Rum Swizzle (Saint Kitts)

The Rare Rums

1. Hamilton 2004 Pot Still, St Lucia

2. Zafra “Master Reserve” 21 Year, Panama

3. Saint Teresa “1796” Solera, Venezuela