Bacardi’s Follow The Rum Road: The Bar Crawl We Did Not Know We Needed

Bacardi Rum Road bars IG | Bacardi's Follow The Rum Road | Food For Thought

One of the elements that frequent bar goers will miss would be the notion of a bar crawl. The kind where you stop at various bars with a different tipple along the way. This is where Bacardi Malaysia has gathered 11 bars together for Rum Month, encouraging patrons to order from some of the best bars in Kuala Lumpur, in which if completed, entitles you to a bottle of Bacardi Reserva Ocho. We speak to Brand Ambassador Jonas Ax about this programme.

Coley | Bacardi's Follow The Rum Road | Food For Thought

Can you tell us a bit about Follow The Rum Road?

It’s essentially a Kuala Lumpur wide bar crawl through delivery cocktails!  One of my favourite things to do during Rum Month (July through to mid-August) is to bar hop and try out different Bacardi creations around KL and Malaysia. This year unfortunately this is something we haven’t been able to do so we decided to bring the idea of this rum bar crawl online and into people’s homes instead.

How did this come about?

Something I noticed when talking to people is that not everyone is aware that many of these bars are doing takeaway cocktails. There’s so many good cocktail bars running incredible delivery programs at the moment, this program helps bars get visibility from new guests that wouldn’t have ordered from them organically before, and gives people a chance to discover new favourite bars to order from and visit once they feel comfortable going out again. Cocktail bars have been some of the places hardest hit by Covid rules and this will hopefully be one of the things that helps them stay afloat.

Three x co | Bacardi's Follow The Rum Road | Food For Thought

Which are some of the drinks you’d recommend from the 11 bars?

That’s such a hard question to answer! All the cocktails are incredible in their own right and different. However, a few of my favourites are Willow Twig from Coley with Bacardi Cuatro, Baked Apple and Nutmeg; The Pursuit of Happiness from Three X Co with Bacardi Reserva Ocho; and Strawberry and Jasmine Tea, and The frozen Pina Colada from Joloko with Bacardi Cuatro and tonka beans.

Why would one want to win a bottle of Bacardi Reserva Ocho?

Bacardi Reserva Ocho was originally the Bacardi family’s private reserve. Now fortunately we can all enjoy it. It’s a champion for true age statement rum, meaning that the age stated on the bottle is the minimum age the rum has spent in oak casks.  

PS150 | Bacardi's Follow The Rum Road | Food For Thought

Can you share a cocktail recipe you can make at home with the Bacardi Reserva Ocho?

It makes a mean Ocho Old Fashioned: Stir a double measure of Bacardi Reserva Ocho with 5ml of sugar syrup and 2 dashes of aromatic bitters. Serve over ice with an orange peel. If You’re more into refreshing drinks, an Ocho and Soda is perfect. Either a double or single measure of Bacardi Reserva Ocho, topped up with soda water over ice. Garnished with an orange wedge.

Bacardi Rum poster IG | Bacardi's Follow The Rum Road | Food For Thought

Tell us how to participate…

It’s super simple, just order a Rum Road cocktail from any of the participating bars. With Your order You will get a physical Rum Road map with all the details of the other bars and how to order. Once you have ordered a cocktail from each participating bar and shared a photo on social media with each cocktail, you will be entitled to a bottle of Bacardi Reserva Ocho.

Click on the links to order directly: –

PS150
Tickets KL
Concubine KL
Pisco Bar
Junglebird
Sticky Wicket
Frank’s Bar
Coley Cocktail Bar
JOLOKO
Licky Chan & The Poke Guy
Three X Co.

 

Nicholas Ng

Nicholas Ng is a restaurant critic and drinks writer and is the editor of independent publication Food For Thought. He has been a freelance journalist for the 15 years and has previously worked as a lawyer and in digital marketing. He currently is the Principal Consultant of A Thought Full Consultancy, a food and beverage marketing consultancy.