Aces of Rum

Nepal's highest rum consumption happens in the winter months when it is cold outside and the liquor keeps people warm. This programme ‘Aces of Rum’ was established to understand the drinking patterns of the country and offer a more summer-y perspective to the consumers about the product. This would provide brand visibility for Khukri, and at the same time help in building the drinking culture of the country.

This programme took place in 2 legs - 2018 and 2019.

2018 -
On the very first day itself, Khukri was able to attract more than 50 bartenders from across the country including Pokhara, Butwal and Kathmandu. Over the coming days the creme de la creme were selected for the workshops that were hosted by Din Hassan, master mixologist from Singapore and Ami Shroff, best known for her flairology in India.

Right from theory on how to use bartending kits to pro bartending tips to learning how to nail rum cocktails, the participants of the programme learned it all.

Ami’s easy Hindi tone and Hassan’s humility helped the participants actively share their opinions, thoughts, suggestions, skills and techniques. In the end, it was down to 30 lucky people who interacted intimately with the experts and were marked on their performance.

After the training, the entire team had promotional events at different venues like Khukri Rum Night with Ami Shroff in Booze Belly and Khukri Rum night with Din Hassan in Tamarind Restro and Bar.

Booze Belly was a grand celebration of cocktails with upcoming models and socialites whereas Tamarind was full of renowned media personalities.

The programme ended with some great concoctions prepared by the participating bartenders and was judged by Ami Shroff and Din Hassan collectively, following which there were more celebratory dinners wherein the master mixologists interacted with the crowds of Nepal.

The 10 best Bartending Participants were as listed below:

1. Yubraj Khanal from pokhara
2. Bibika Maharjan from lalitpur
3. Sushant Raj Giri
4. Basanta Bogati
5. Dhirush Acharya
6. Kailash Kumar Pulami
7. Sandip Mahato from lalitpur
8. Umesh Shrestha
9. Tul Bahadur Gauchan from Butwal
10. Nishant Bhakta Mathema from lalitpur
11. Pujan Gurung from Bhairahawa

There was also a Phase 2 of the 2018 Master Class held at the then Soaltee Crowne Plaza (now The Soaltee Kathmandu) and was attended by 22 participants. The main motive of this event was to train all bartenders in town in the art of making rum cocktails. This was a closed group event wherein selected bartenders were invited for an intensive training of 3 days.

2019 -

Owing to the huge success of Aces of Rum in 2018, Khukri organised yet another Master Class by Din Hassan in 2019 at Hotel Annapurna, this time with over 150 participants!

The motive was the same - to train Nepali bartenders to make some high quality rum based cocktails. There was also a special training arranged for the 10 Aces of Rum from the previous year wherein Mr Din Hassan taught techniques of pro bartending along with creating new tastes for a rum based cocktail menu.

This training lasted 5 days and was full of events, programmes, entertainment and lots of learning!