A boozy weekend at the Mauritian Rum Festival
From gorgeous beaches to exquisite Asian fusion cuisine, there have long been myriad reasons for visiting Mauritius. Now, though, there is another compelling incentive for travelling to the tranquil island in the Indian Ocean: Mauritius's Rum Festival.
At the week-long event, which takes place at the eight Beachcomber hotels on the sheltered northwestern coast of the island each November, you can sample the wares from 18 rum producers – if you have the stamina!
The festival celebrates an important chapter in the history of Mauritius. The distilling of rum goes back more than 350 years to when Dutch explorers first brought sugarcane to the island. This centuries-old tradition has endowed Mauritian rum with an excellent international reputation.
All the rums featured use only ingredients grown in Mauritius. Those from the Cyclone distillery, for example, are flavoured with passion fruit, lychee, kiwi, coconut, mango, black cherry and guava, all of which are cultivated on the island. It is that local influence that makes Mauritian rum so distinctive.
The accommodation
We stay at the exquisite Royal Palm Beachcomber Luxury, where the attention to detail is off the scale. For instance, at the moment where you might be flagging after a tough afternoon sunbathing on the hotel's pristine white beach and start thinking, "What I could really use now is a scrumptious pot of strawberry sorbet," lo and behold, a waiter arrives noiselessly by your sunlounger and hands you a scrumptious pot of strawberry sorbet.
A string of elegant low-rise buildings flanking the beach, this tranquil hotel has just 69 rooms, all with pleasingly restrained, pale-hued decor. Standing a mere 20 paces from the water, the location is superb. There are other hotels down the coast, but you cannot see them because the Royal Palm is angled away from them, straight out to the ocean. You can explore the crystalline water and the vibrant reef that lies just beneath it on a glass-bottom boat trip that sets off from the hotel beach.
Another notable element of the resort is the fact that it does not just pay lip service to sustainability; it takes its environmental responsibilities seriously. Its water bottles, for example, are made entirely from sugarcane.
Eating and drinking
La Goélette, the hotel's fine-dining restaurant, doubles as the venue for breakfast and dinner. Situated on a terrace with views directly on to the Indian Ocean, the restaurant has no fourth wall and is completely open to the elements. That proves fun one night when we have to perform a round of musical chairs as a storm gusts across the terrace.
Seafood is a speciality at La Goélette, and the best dishes have made the very short journey from water to plate. Make sure you don't leave without trying the memorable crab ravioli in Creole-style bouillon.
The island spirit
The Mauritian Rum Festival consists of a charming semicircle of stalls, laid out like a tipsy car boot sale. Wandering between the outlets, in a perhaps increasingly wobbly fashion, you can try such splendidly named cocktails as Pigeon Punch, Lazy Fruit Daiquiri and Gold Fashioned.
One of the showcased rums is the evocatively titled Lazy Dodo, which may be a reference to the fact that this indolent, flightless bird was hunted to extinction on the island by greedy Dutch sailors. Staying with the dodo theme, another eminently quaffable rum is Raph, presented in a striking bottle sculpted to resemble a dodo's head. It would stand out on any drinks trolley.
One night, we are treated to an entertaining dinner where each course is paired with a different rum cocktail. For instance, the sea scallops and stove-cooked prawns marinated in rosemary oil, palm heart and avocado cream is accompanied by a Fresh Start cocktail, mingling rum with watermelon. There can surely be nothing more delicious in Mauritius.
James Rampton was a guest of Royal Palm Beachcomber Luxury. Rooms start from £891 per night.