Gabriel de-Vere, trade veteran and Founder and Proprietor of Rhum Tavern, tells all concerning the metropolis’s latest experimental cocktail bar – an unbelievable handmade house, impressed by the legends of the seventeenth Century golden age of piracy.
Please inform us a bit extra about Rhum Tavern, detailing the story behind the venue.
The Rhum Tavern is a growth from the occasions firm that I ran; I constructed manufacturing gear for model workout routines, probably the most profitable one being a ship we partnered on for Captain Morgan. From right here, I developed the hull of a ship idea that I assumed can be nice enjoyable as a full-time bar. So, we hand constructed The Rhum Tavern in the identical trend, partly on account of market testing.
Discuss us by way of the bar’s cocktail menu; how was this curated?
The cocktail menu dates again to my love of the map from The Goonies, which in flip was impressed by Mad Journal. I screen-grabbed it and rebuilt it in Photoshop as the bottom for the menu – it took fairly just a few months! The drinks themselves have been an evolution largely from the design idea, as I constructed the entire glassware by hand, one after the other; the drinks have been conscripted by the ideology round the right way to embody flavours from throughout the globe while complementing the glassware. Coming from London, I really feel particularly proud to have been uncovered to the tradition and meals which has, in flip, been an inspiration for lots of the drinks within the menu. Our serves listing contains Truffle Shuffle, which showcases Bourbon infused Child Ruth and Guinness punch. Some drinks have been straightforward to construct, while others have been like pulling tooth to try to match!
Solely just lately launched, how fashionable do you see Rhum Tavern being amongst friends; as an experimental rum bar, how will you provide an distinctive expertise for quite a lot of totally different friends?
Whereas The Rhum Tavern solely just lately opened in September, we’re hopeful about its future. We recognise that, throughout the trade, the experimental market appears is doing very nicely (Mr Fogg’s, The Little Yellow Door, and so forth). The Rhum Tavern continues that journey and sits in an area that all of us inherently have a love of.
The staff have all grown up with a love for each dinosaurs and pirates, and so that is an exploration into this house. One does should watch out to not flip the idea right into a Disney trip, and so we have now been conscious of that at each flip.
We’ve got got down to not solely be a vacation spot bar, however to additionally provide an expertise for the locals. So, within the menu design, we have now made certain to incorporate signatures, classics and a few wonderful wine and beer choices, as to not exclude any buyer preferences. The entire above are essential milestones, however none extra so than the skilled hospitality we want to provide – we have now constructed the staff with this in thoughts. Previous all of the bells and whistles, we wish to develop into a ‘native’ for our space, a house for the trade, the place people can go to solo or as a gaggle and have the identical care and love of being sorted. That is the very core of what we wish to mirror as a staff at The Rhum Tavern.
In your opinion, what makes rum such a beautiful spirit; and due to this fact, why was it essential to shine a lightweight on it by way of Rhum Tavern?
Rum has been within the highlight for the final decade as being the subsequent class to blow up, and at the moment we’re seeing that. Rum sits in a singular place, as it’s each column and pot stilled and might come out ready-for-use and aged! Alongside the expansion that we’re seeing and the truth that the market has doubled, we have now some wonderful distilleries, like Two Drifters and DropWorks, pushing the boundaries, which is nice to see. After gin having dominated for the final 15 years of so, it’s wonderful to see a motion in direction of rum.
The Rhum Tavern is an exploration into the house; we have now chosen the rums – or Rhums – we’re working with to mirror the worldwide trade that has been growing for a while. We’re an experiential bar, however it’s the liquid that performs a pivotal function in what we wish to obtain as each a coaching floor and a singular bar in London.
Please inform us the bar’s quick and long-term targets; seeking to the longer term, what does the staff and venue hope to realize?
Ou short-term targets are easy: to interrupt even! Evolving from an operator to an proprietor brings an emotional engagement that I’ve by no means earlier than skilled. Openings are arduous sufficient with prices, expertise, service, and so forth, however it is a new stage of stress. Exterior of this, we hope that, in a really perfect world, The Rhum Tavern will probably be recognised amongst a mixture of nice experiential bars with a ‘Cheers!’ really feel. To have the ability to compete throughout the trade that we love a lot can be a dream for us as a staff.
