Whiskey & Rum aan zee Festival 2025

DutchRumPirate · October 6, 2025, 6:54pm

This weekend 11 October is the Whiskey & Rum aan Zee Festival in IJmuiden in the Netherlands.

At the bottom of the page, everything is also explained in English and you see shortcuts of Facebook for the Pro photos and the participating brands.

I’ve been there for the past 2 years and will go take another look this weekend. I also registered for the Planteray Masterclass this year.

Short summary of recent years: it is being held at the Leonardo Hotel in IJmuiden. It is quite remote and there is not much to do in the area. There are dunes and walking routes in the area.

My wife drops me at the hotel and goes shopping in Haarlem while I follow Masterclasses and am tasting wonderful rums during the event.

There is a restaurant in the hotel where you can eat well in the evening. After dinner I run back to the event to enjoy the many rums again.

The event is being held on an entire floor in the hotel. They are actually 2 congress rooms where all rums and whiskeys are. In the middle is a hall where you can buy coins and some food. Think of pulled chicken sandwich or a sausage sandwich. There is also usually a stand with rum bonbons that you can buy.

The organizer is the owner of the Liquor Store Zeewijck.

He also has his private collection from Foursquare open which you can taste for a fee.

Planteray always had the premium there in recent years to show their new single casks series.

Furthermore, you can sometimes encounter a nice special bottle. Such as a Hamilton Saint Lucia, or the Black Tot series or a nice Mount Gay. But in general are the rums and brands present that you can order on his website.

After the event I have a room at the hotel and have a delicious breakfast the next morning. That day I drive home and can’t wait for the next rum event.

Will any other members be there this year?

Rumman · October 6, 2025, 7:08pm

Will not be joining this year. In previous editions I have also seen Tamosi, the Duchess, 1423 and many others. There is a good rum line up.
The only thing I do not like is the limited option of public transport. The place is too remote in my opinion. But, very nice festival, nice atmosphere.

DutchRumPirate · October 6, 2025, 7:40pm

Yes you are absolutely right about that. And he has indeed very nice brands available.

I only personally miss a nice Velier, Caroni or a Savanna that day to name just an example.

But we can’t have everything.

Mkemp · October 6, 2025, 8:16pm

It would take me 2 hours and 15 minutes even though I will only travel 60 kilometers. Why is that place so hard to reach by public transport

Tom · October 7, 2025, 3:30am

It’s always a bad date for me. The past years it fell simultaneously with Salon du Rhum in Spa. This weekend I’ll attend Salon Rhum Passion in Seraing.

IJmuiden would take me about 2h40m with the car. Maybe a future edition could be combinable with a weekend away with the missus.

Don_Pablo · October 7, 2025, 4:22am

I would like to go, but I am travelling back from work abroad, and the issue with the public transport is not helping. I guess that’s why the hotel is one of the sponsors

Leo · October 7, 2025, 5:07am

Living close to the border, this Ijmuiden is probably the farest place for me in the Netherlands
Driving over 4 hours isnt a choice sadly.

Don_Pablo · October 7, 2025, 5:37am

It would be great to have a small festival, dedicated to the better spirits out there. Most festivals are whisky-related. I know that Van Wees organised the Pot Still festival for a while, but I don’t think that it took place this year.

Somewhere more centrally located would be great.

Or is there already such a thing, which isn’t on my radar?

Leo · October 7, 2025, 6:13am

Salon du Rhum in Spa was quite close for me. Thats the kind of central, i care about

Rumman · October 7, 2025, 7:39am

There is Spirits in the Sky in Brussels upcoming. The location itself is boring (conference rooms of a hotel in the EU zone), but at least the hotel and Brussels are public transport friendly.

Don_Pablo · October 12, 2025, 8:33am

How was the festival, @DutchRumPirate? I hope you had fun!

Chrischi78 · October 12, 2025, 10:47am

WDM Guyana kommt Q1/2026

DutchRumPirate · October 23, 2025, 7:48pm

Hi Paul! Sorry for my late reply. I was a bit sick after the festival. Or maybe I still needed to recover.

I had a great time. I started the day with a Planteray masterclass. It was very enjoyable and informative. We tasted the following:

Pxxo, new to me and a pleasant surprise. I like the Xo, but I prefer the Pxxo with the sweeter px addition.
Mauritius One Time Limited, I already knew it; it’s simply a delicious rum.
Belize One Time Limited, new to me, and I knew I absolutely love Belize, and this confirms it. A truly great rum.
Trinidad: I already knew it, and as many of you know, this is a truly amazing TDL. Also because of the price.
Mister Fog No. 2: I already knew No. 1, and it was a bit disappointing during the class. But that could also have been because I was still enjoying the TDL.
Hogo Monstah: I got a tiny sip. It was nice, but I wasn’t shocked by this monster. I’d have to try it again to really get a good impression.

During the class, it was also mentioned that there wouldn’t be a new single cask series this year. And that the Trinidad One Time Limited would be the last in this series for the time being. He indicated that there might not be any new one time limited releases for the next two years.

Afterwards, I hung around chatting for a bit, and suddenly a lovely sample came up that he’d pulled from a cask himself. JAWS! Apparently, a bottle of this ended up on the German market once. Deliciously soft, fruity rum with a lovely fresh finish.

Afterwards, I walked to the halls. It was pleasantly busy in the afternoon, but it was much quieter in the evening. I also heard from the hotel staff that the festival gets less crowded every year.

I really wanted to try the Tamosi series this year, so I stayed there for a long time. I had some really nice conversations with the owner, Benjamin, and with forum member @Rowald
He had a beautiful bottle with him, which I’d also put on my wish list.

This was really fantastic. I enjoyed it so much! Thanks again, Rowald, it’s truly amazing. I will never forget this!

I was very happy to have tasted a lot of Tamosi that evening. They were all top-notch. The one that stood out to me the most was the new Tamosi Yon, 18-year-old Barbados Foursquare.
Before I tried it, I thought about the ECS series and the typical FS flavor profile. For me, this one didn’t fit the bill at all. It had the familiar FS heavy quality, but it was really different than you’d expect, much fruitier. And that was certainly a pleasant surprise at the time.

I also went to Duchess and tasted a delicious Caroni.

My friend Alex from Royal Cane also had a delicious St. Lucia, and he gave me
another sample, I still have to taste it:

I also tasted a delicious Enmore 28-year-old at Zeewijck’s private collection.

And I tasted the Equidem at the Foursquare booth and immediately bought it at the event. With the 10% discount, I simply couldn’t resist this one for €112.50, and I think it’s fantastic.

The guy at that booth dragged me somewhere else to try the 50-year-old Cuban rum.

I also found this incredibly delicious. Wonderfully full-bodied, with a barrel flavor and almond notes, a slightly sweet caramel note, and a long, full finish. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

All in all, I had many pleasant conversations, met old acquaintances, and had a good laugh.

But I don’t know if I’ll do this again next year. Perhaps in a more stripped-down version.

Many photos taken at the event were also recently posted on their Facebook page: