This weekend saw the Europe's first RumFest at the Royal Horticultural Hall, Victoria. One very unremarkable looking bottle went on display: one of the four remaining unopened bottles of Wray and Nephew rum, distilled in Jamaica, whose contents may date back as far as 1915.
It is estimated to be worth a staggering £26,000. That's several horribly expensive, yet truly authentic Mai Tais.
You'd think organiser, Paul McFadyen, would have felt like protecting his star spirit with the wrath of the pirates, warning off the grubby public with a round of "fifteen men on a dead man's chest..." but he seemed curiously laid back about his precious haul and didn't rule out cracking it open for a taste of alcoholic history.
A fact you probably didn't know about rum: In the 1800’s it was considered excellent for cleaning hair.
Image courtesy of mil8's Flickstream. Click through to get a Mai Tai recipe too!
