The Rum Lab has announced the 2018 dates for the US Rum Festival Tour, with the intention to continue promoting the education and premiumisation of rum. The events will take place at the metropolitan cities of Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle and New York City.

The goal is to feature more than 40 premium rum brand expressions from around the world, accommodate members of the beverage trade with intimate access to brand representatives, tastings, seminars and educational breakout sessions.

World renown industry guest speakers already on tap for most of the cities, include:
Richard Seale – Fourth Generation Master Distiller, Foursquare Distillery, Barbados
Ian Burrell – Global Rum Ambassador, Celebrity Judge and producer of the UK Rum Fest.
Bailey Pryor – 5 times Emmy Award winning documentary film producer and CEO of The Real McCoy Rum.

The 1st event for 2018 will be the Chicago Rum Festival which will take place on April 14th at Logan Square Auditorium – Chicago, Illinois. Followed by the California Rum Festival which will be on Sept 8th at SOMArts Cultural Center in San Francisco, CA, then the inaugural Seattle Rum Festival taking place in Seattle, Washington. Then to conclude the tour, the New York Rum Festival is scheduled to occur the weekend of Sept 29th, in New York City.

For more information on each event visit http://www.therumlab.com.

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About The Rum Lab
The Rum Lab is a creative and production agency focused on the rum industry. The company produces the Puerto Rico’s national rum fest – Taste of Rum Puerto Rico – in addition to the California Rum Festival, Midwest Rum Festival,, New York Rum Festival, and new this year, the debut of the Seattle Rum Festival.. Events produced by The Rum Lab attract hundreds of guests including beverage trade professionals, rum aficionados, tourists and local consumers. Learn more at http://www.therumlab.com.

I attended the SF Rum Fest this year and am sort of bummed to see a return to the same venue in 2018.. Will there be more of an effort to promote the educational sessions within the event itself (no signage, the speaker room felt like a large closet) in 2018? The lack of speaker intros were a problem in Richard's Seale's discussion when he kept using "we" and it was unclear who he meant until someone asked (he meant Barbadians).

There were so many cool rum brands at this event, and the staff at the tables were super friendly.

then the inaugural Seattle Rum Festival taking place in Seattle, Washington.

What happened to this rum event in Seattle? I heard it was cancelled. What happened to the people who purchased advanced tickets? Is there any information on Seattle Rum Festival and why it did not happen?