When the Rum Festival rolled into town last year, attendees apparently made a good stab at drinking the bars dry so it's no surprise that the organisers are returning this weekend.

The festival takes place at the Briggait on Friday 7th and Saturday 8th June. Main pic from Festival Facebook.

While gin has enjoyed a long spell centre stage, we do hear occasional suggestions from the drinks industry that rum is waiting in the wings, ready to take its turn in the spotlight.

Admittedly, we usually hear these suggestions from rum makers so a pinch of salt may be required.

However, the popularity of the Rum Festival demonstrates that pirates' favourite drink may be on the up.

Scottish rum

Certainly Scotland's distillers have been gearing up for increased demand. Over the last few years, Dark Matter Distillers, NB distillery, Glasgow Distillery Company, Strathearn Distillery, Deeside Distillery, Matugga Distillers, Wester Spirit Distillery and the team behind Bramble cocktail bar have all gone into production or diversified and entered the rum market.

We understand that BrewDog also have a rum in the pipeline. Feel free to shout if we have missed any out.

Rum sampling

If rum floats your boat then the Rum Festival will put wind in your sales. As well as more than a hundred different rums for sale, there will be cocktails, sampling, live music and dancing. A minimum of ten free samples are included with every ticket.

On arrival, guests will be given their own rum glass and a brochure full of information on all the rums, fun facts about each supplier and the suggested garnish to compliment each drink.

Drinks tokens are £5 each and the festival's '100 Rums' include a mixer of your choice and fresh garnish. There will also be premium rums available to try for varied prices.

If you prefer cocktails, the Rum Festival cocktail team will be mixing 'em up at £8 a pop.

Tickets.

The Rum Festival returns to Scotland for two Edinburgh dates: 27th/28th September.