| Invitation from Charbonnel et Walker and Appleton Estate Jamaica Rum |
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Charbonnel et Walker and
Appleton Estate Jamaica Rum
Rum & Chocolate Tasting
Please join us in pairing together fine English chocolates and Jamaican rums a to create a unique taste experience.
DATE: Tuesday 7th February
TIME: Bespoke rum cocktails 6.30pm
Rum & Chocolate Tasting from 7pm
LOCATION: Charbonnel et Walker,
One The Royal Arcade, 28 Old Bond Street, London W1S 4BT
TICKETS: £15 each. Each guest will leave with an exclusive goody bag and 20% off all purchases will be offered on the evening.
RSVP ESSENTIAL: Please RSVP to victoria.leadbitter@charbonnel.co.uk
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“Our friends at Charbonnel et Walker are fabulous at throwing parties at their Bond Street store!” says the Duke of Earl Grey. “And what’s a London party without me! Often in conjunction with some of my other favourite luxury brands (Penhaligon’s, Jo Malone, and Laurent-Perrier to name a few), the pairings of Charbonnel’s fine English chocolates with the flavours and scents of other brands can’t help but make for an enjoyable evening out! Our invite to their soiree of bespoke cocktails and rum tasting with Appleton Rum this past February paired the sweet Appleton Estate Extra 12-year-old Jamaican rum with a variety of classic Charbonnel truffles and new ones inspired by the occasion!
“The flagship store, which stretches in a narrow strip along the front left side of Bond Street’s Royal Arcade, glowed warmly with Valentine’s Day decorations in the frigid February evening as we arrived, chauffeured by St. James in my cab, of course. It takes only a modest number of guests to create a lively yet intimate gathering at the Bond Street store, and the cocktails, conversations and chocolates were flowing as Alexander, Myrtle, Tips, St. James and I entered. Cocktails were everywhere! Tips and Alexander disappeared in the direction of the rum while Myrtle, St. James and I mingled and greeted the friendly, illustrious guests besides ourselves: Jamaican High Commissioner, the Honorable Burchell Anthony Whiteman and his wife, our dear friend Victoria Leadbitter who is in charge of Charbonnel PR and planning all their lovely parties, and Charbonnel et Walker owner Galvin Weston who made a special appearance at the event with his brother and father who had just flown in from America. In between conversations, we were treated to lively and educational banter from the Charbonnel staff about the history of their shop and the chocolates we were eating. “But enough talking,” as shop manager Adam Lee announced at one point, “We’ve got rum to drink and chocolates to eat!”
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| The Bond Street Charbonnel store at the front of Royal Arcade, a great party setting! |
“Yeah, me and Alexander didn’t waste any time with finding cocktails,” says Tips. “Charbonnel had turned the gift-wrapping station at the rear of the store into a busy bar with the good people from Appleton churning out rum cocktails as fast as could be loaded onto trays and served! There were more cocktails and truffles than table space! I’m always on the look-out for creative and tasty cocktails (although I am working on drinking less these days), so I got the skinny on the bespoke rum cocktails from Daniel at Appleton, but I couldn’t understand everything he was saying because he was speaking Scottish, innit. So as far as I know we had rum martinis, which are traditionally made with vodka. But this one had Koko Kanu coconut rum, lime, chaparral and something else the bloke said that I couldn’t understand. I think that’s right, innit. And then there were the Appleton Extra 12-year-old rum cocktails with vermouth, bitters and orange. Or was the vermouth in the martinis? Or were the martinis the dark ones? Or did I forget a cocktail? I can’t remember. And I can’t remember which one was my favourite because I don’t remember much from that night in general. Sorry.”
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| Koko Kanu Jamaican coconut rum, featured alongside the Appleton Rum for the evening. |
“Well, I wasn’t allowed to drink,” says Myrtle. “But all the cocktails were paired with yummy Charbonnel et Walker truffles to bring out the flavours in both the drinks and the chocolates! We had platters and platters of vanilla, banoffee and plain chocolate truffles with fancy gold leaf (gold you can eat!) to go with the sweetness of the coconut rum that everyone was drinking. They even had Appleton Rum flavoured dark chocolate truffles made especially for the occasion! The dark rum and bitters were served with Cecily dark chocolates, one of my favourite Charbonnel truffles, which were named after Mr. Weston’s 9-year-old daughter. I wonder if she’s 10 yet. We’re the same age! Anyway, they also had dark-chocolate covered orange and ginger sticks and praline truffles to go with the caramel and molasses flavours of the aged rum. But Tips secretly let me have a little sip of one of his drinks and I didn’t think it tasted like caramel or molasses at all. I just thought it smelled funny. And the best thing about the party was the goody bag for each of the guests to take home. They contained entire boxes of vanilla or banoffee truffles and small bottles of Appleton rum! Like we didn’t get to eat a million truffles while we were at the party! It’s crazy!”
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| “Cecily” chocolates, named for owner Galvin Weston’s daughter who is Myrtle’s age. |
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| Truffles, truffles and more truffles! |
“Tips stuffed an outrageous amount of truffles in his pockets and stole several other miniature bottles of rum from Appleton, but please don’t tell anyone,” says the Duke. “St. James also took a personal doggy bag of truffles home separate from his goody bag. We can’t take them anywhere. Tips ended up having so many cocktails that I had to carry him to and from the cab. St. James came down with such a stomach ache after consuming so many chocolates that he was barely able to drive us home. Overall it was a lovely soiree with Charbonnel, and well worth the modest £15 price to attend! We plan to indulge in it all over again at their Diamond Jubilee Tea Party with Louis Roederer on May 31!”
Myrtle Takes Tea 
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