Post #259301 by milligna on Thu, Oct 5, 2006 8:56 PM

Hi all (long time reader, first time poster).

I'm Chief Bartender at a quaint Argentinian tango school cum Tiki Lounge in Melbourne, Australia. I've had the pleasure of trying Seven Tiki Rum on a couple of occasions (in fact I had a shot on Monday at a meeting of the Melbourne Rum Club). It's not a bad spirit, but it lacks a lot of the qualities that set White Rum apart. The flavour profile is quite different to a lot of rums I've tasted - it gives a lot of Cinnamon, and it should be nice to mix with... quite different. It is made in Fiji by the NZ company 42 Below (as noted above) and "Seven Tiki" is supposed to refer to an historical/mythological story of the spread of population in in the south Pacific. I'm not 100%, but I think it refers to the 7 Tiki statues that were on the 7 Canoes used to populate New Zealand? (probably wrong about that, but it's along those lines).

The Packaging is absolutely beautiful. It's got a lot of maori style design printed onto a clear bottle that has a shape reminiscent of Hendrick's gin, with a black stylised tiki on the front. The printing is red and black (and clear/white), some of the traditional colours used in Maori artwork. On the bottle is a map of the 7 islands that are significant to the name of the rum (fiji, NZ, and others... samoa I think).

The Seven Tiki stand at the Sydney Barshow was very cool - they'd done it up like a tiki bar. It really drew the eye. Tiki has started to gain momentum in Australia, and I'm very proud to be working in the best Tiki Bar in Melbourne! (237 Swan Street, Richmond).

I've ordered a case of 6 for my bar, we might find something nice to mix them with, but at the very least they'll look gorgeous on the bar.

The same company is also releasing/has released a rum called "Tahiti Dark" which is a dark style rum that is going to be introduced to tackle the dark rum drinking population of Australia (In the northern states there is a huge culture of Bundaberg Rum drinking - "Bundy and Coke"). The Tahiti Dark rum again has properties that I don't usually associate with Rum, but it was nice. It basically tastes like a christmas cake. One of the other guys at the rum club is anxious to make a winter drink with this rum - a hot espresso martini with a custard float - Sounds absoulutly wicked.

All in all, rum and Tiki in Australia is starting to look up!