National Rum Day

[Kevin]

How did you all celebrate? I had several rum flights at Sugar House in Detroit. Discovered Clement 10 year old for the first time. Very nice. Also Diplomatico Ambassador. Enjoyable but a tad too sweet for me.

[Dai]

I had Mount Gay XO and Dos Maderos 5+3.

[Capn Jimbo]

Nice...


Kevin - good tongue (you noted the sugar in Diplomatico), and Dai - terrific combination. As for us, we enjoyed Red Breast 12 Year, triple pot stilled Irish whiskey (which certainly shares some tones with MGXO).


Now as for NRD, I haven't a clue as to who organized this "Official Site of National Rum Day", but a Duck Duck Go search for it, turned up this info at Whois:

Registrant Name: JOHN FOREMAN
Registrant Organization: STREAMWORTH, INC
Registrant Street: 26500 AGOURA RD
Registrant Street: SUITE 102-448
Registrant City: CALABASAS
Registrant State/Province: CA
Registrant Postal Code: 91302
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.8187062264

Foreman is based at Streamworth.com a corporation that specializes in parcel audits and recovery. Go figure.

Rumday.com (National Rum Day) is a simplistic one page site that links to "most frequently ordered rum cocktails":

Blue Hawaiian
Cuba Libre
Daiquiri
Hurricane
Long Island Iced Tea
Mai-Tai
Mojito
Piña Colada
Planter's Punch
Rum & Coke

...with the opportunity to vote. Guess which one won - by far? And if anyone can figure how and why this site was established by Foreman, I'd sure like to know.


*******
http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/r ... rumday.com
http://www.rumday.com/

[Capn Jimbo]

Against Rum Day. And National Watermelon Day. And National Crème Brûlée Day. And National Filet Mignon Day.


From the Washington City Paper (2013)...

"Last Friday, as you surely knew, was a pretty big holiday: National Rum Day.

Bars and restaurants celebrated with the same fervor they display for Independence Day or Valentine’s Day: Smith Commons, Hogo, Teddy & The Bully Bar, and Farmers Fishers Bakers participated in a rum bar crawl. Fried chicken and doughnut shop GBD offered “Rum Happy Hour” with rum punches, rum doughnuts, and chicken wings with rum sauce. Cuba Libre offered half-price mojitos. Meanwhile, publicists sent rum cocktail recipes and promoted tropical-drink books. The media went crazy too: NPR explored the history of rum, Fox News listed the top 10 rums, and Zagat’s blog rounded up great places to drink rum around the country.

But it was all a sham.

National Rum Day is a holiday without a real origin. No government agency has officially recognized it. Spokespeople for the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, the American Rum Association, and the West Indies Rum and Spirits Producers’ Association all say they have no clue how it got started. A rep for Bacardi offers the closest thing to an explanation, saying it’s an “industry-created” holiday, but she didn’t know who was involved in its creation or when."

The media say the PR people must have invented it. The PR people say the reverse. And then along comes Foreman - a parcel auditor who staked his claim on the name and the simplistic "Official" one page site, no doubt hoping to resell the name and/or site to say, Bacardi.

So maybe I'll start a day: I'm declaring February 29th International Death of Rum Day...




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http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blog ... ignon-day/

[Capn Jimbo]

You know I had to...


...send an email to Foreman, the owner of rumday.com, the "official" site of National Rum Day, or is it? Read on...

Moi:

"Dear John...

Capn Jimbo of The Rum Project with a question. How and why is your site the "Official Site of National Rum Day"? Seriously, if this is the official site, what does this say about rum? How is it that the site is about three years old, but is basicly little more than a simple home page? What was your goal and have you attained it? Or did you establish it simply for resale?

Did you believe the name and site would have any value, and if so, what is it? We at The Rum Project (perhaps the largest free and independent website on the net) are truly mystified.

Cordially,
Capn Jimbo"

I received the following answer:

"Hello, Jimbo,

Thank you for your correspondence. You've done a fantastic job with The Rum Project. Much respect. I know that a lot of time and effort has gone into the site.

The RumDay.com website is an online destination primed for serious development. For the appropriate, savvy marketer, it can serve as fertile land to grow visibility, promote products, organize events and other offerings, both online and offline, that would be of interest to rum consumers in the U.S. and around the world.

So, does it have value? Like a well placed lot of commercial real estate, to the right person, persons or entity it would be a highly sensible property to operate from.

Is it for sale? Maybe. I'm a marketing/branding specialist by profession and having the opportunity to work with the right people/organization, who also see potential in this very capable domain name to develop something bigger, may be more attractive to me. I'm open to what makes the most sense.

I understand your curiosity and I'm happy to discuss more with you if you would like. I do respect the community that you have been serving with such diligence. And I do respect your comment about the use of the word "Official". You're right, and I have removed the word "Official".

Like I said, happy to talk more. Just email me back and we can set up a time.

Kindest regards and Cheers,
John"

It would appear that this gentleman saw an opportunity to grab the name, and establish just enough of a website to make ownership clear enough to put it up for sale. He removed the word "official" for obvious reasons. And so it goes...