Polished Palate Biography
Ian Burrell , Master Edutainer , UK Rum Ambassador
Ian Burrell has been a well-known face on the London bar scene for over 12 years. As well as being a “mixologist” and managing cocktail bars across London since 1991, he also managed to find time to present a couple of TV shows, play professional basketball, sing and song write for Hollywood movies and most importantly to become a “Rum Ambassador”, travelling around the world teaching about the wonders of rum appreciation. His restaurant and cocktail bar, “Cottons”, boasts the largest collection of rums in London and he has personally tasted them all. Being of Jamaican decent, rum has always been in Ian’s blood. In fact he is quoted in saying that his first rum experience was ‘when he was 4 days old and his mother put a little bit on his lips to help him to sleep’. A master “Edu-tainer”, he educates and entertains while delivering rum and rum cocktail seminars & rum education programmes to a growing cocktail culture. With his own style, Ian is always smiling and enjoying himself because as he says, “Life’s too short”, and there’s a lot of rum out there to drink…
1995-1998… Sales representative for J Wray & Nephew
1998…Appleton/Wray & Nephew Rum ambassador for the UK and Europe . Running their bar educational programmes.
2001…Set up Cottons Rum Shack & Restaurant in London , which has the largest collection of rums for a bar in the UK .
2002…Set up “The Grass to Glass” rum academy for all levels of bartenders to learn about rums as a category.
2003…Started The Appleton Rum Academy in New Zealand . A Rum training programme for the top bartenders in New Zealand , which included rum history and rum cocktail knowledge.
2004…Helped launch Appleton Rums in Australia with a series of rum cocktail training sessions in Sydney & Melbourne.
2004…Invited to join “Taste & Flavour”, a network of professional speakers in the drinks industry as one of their rum experts. Their clients include Sainsbury, Bacardi-Martini Ltd, Brown-Forman, Diageo, Pernod Ricard, J Wray & Nephew, Theme Magazine and the Wines & Spirits Education Trust.
2006…Started working with (WIRSPA) West Indies Rum & Spirits Producers Association in the UK to promote rum as a category to the general consumer.
2006…Invited to be the UK ’s Rum ambassador, by the Ministry of Rums to judge at the 1st International Cane Spirits Festival® and Tasting Competition in Ybor City , Florida .