For one weekend every October, London becomes the centre of the rum world. This year it’s a 20th birthday party: three days of tasting, eating, dancing, learning, celebrating and discovering the people and places behind one of the world’s most vibrant spirits.
Taking place from Saturday 17 to Monday 19 October 2026 at Mercure London Earls Court, RumFest brings together 400+ rums, cocktails, Caribbean food, live music, dance, masterclasses and the producers, distillers and bartenders who make it all happen. Tickets start at £49.22 at rumfest.co.uk. Saturday and Sunday are for consumers, and Monday 19 October is Trade & Press Day.
More than 15,000 rum samples and cocktails were poured across the 2025 festival, which sold out both consumer days, with almost a third of the crowd travelling in from beyond London to be there, underlining RumFest’s growing pull as an international destination in its own right.
More than the liquid
Since Global Rum Ambassador Ian Burrell founded RumFest in 2007, the festival has always been about more than what’s in the glass. It’s built on the culture, heritage and diversity of rum, and on bringing seasoned collectors and total newcomers together with the people behind it…
Ian says, “There are Rum Shows, but only one Rum Experience. Ours.”
…Visitors move from a rare tasting to a masterclass with a master distiller, to Caribbean food, a new cocktail, a live bartending battle, or just following the music around the festival floor. Twenty years on, that spirit is still what sets RumFest apart.
The Bigger Rum Map
The Caribbean remains rum’s heartland, but the map keeps expanding. RumFest 2026 puts celebrated Caribbean distilleries alongside producers from Mauritius, St Lucia, The Bahamas, Barbados, Vietnam and the South Pacific, letting visitors taste how geography, history and culture shape a spirit. Premium new names join the lineup too, including Crossfire Hurricane by The Rolling Stones, a sign of rum’s growing pull across music and culture.
Rum tourism is a big part of the anniversary edition. Understanding a rum often means understanding where it comes from, its heritage, the local landscape, and the people who make it. This year RumFest partners with Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc., the Caribbean Tourism Organisation and Sandals Resorts UK to bring the destinations behind the drink to life. For some visitors, the journey starts with a glass in London, the next one might be a flight to where the story began.
Ian Burrell, Global Rum Ambassador, said:
“Twenty years ago, I created RumFest to give rum the platform I believed it deserved. Since then the category has changed beyond recognition, but the thing that makes rum so special never has: the people, cultures and places behind it. This anniversary is a chance to celebrate the last two decades, and to look forward to what’s next – brilliant rums from new parts of the world, a new generation discovering the category, and a growing appetite to visit the places where rum’s stories begin.”
The 20th anniversary UK RumFest takes place from 17-19 October 2026 in Earls Court, London. Tickets start from £49.22 at rumfest.co.uk.
