2019 in Review: The 6 Most Important American Rum Stories of the Year—and What They Mean for 2020
When I first asked myself, “What happened in American rum in 2019?” it felt like a daunting question to answer.
Between the 21 Reports and 13 Release Radar newsletters I sent out to subscribers, I somehow managed to write over 50,000 words about various happenings in the category. Meanwhile, our index of American rum producers ballooned to 234 distilleries (with a backlog of about 40 more that need to be added).
So yeah, it’s safe to say a lot of stuff happened in 2019.
But when you zoom out and take a big picture assessment of all that stuff, a more interesting question emerges:
What happened in American rum in 2019 that will influence the category (and the perception of it) the most in 2020?
In the end, I landed on six things.
Some are events, some are broader themes, but all offer clues on the category’s direction and what we should expect from it going forward.
Let’s run through them, in no particular order:
Velier Sources Rum from an American Distillery
There were a couple of times throughout the year when I found myself repeating some variation of the phrase, “This is a big deal not only for Privateer Rum, but the American rum category as a whole.”
The first came when Tales of the Cocktail made the small Ipswich, Massachusetts distillery’s Bottled in Bond New England Rum one of ten nominees for the “Best New Spirit or Cocktail Ingredient” category at the event’s annual Spirited Awards.
There was Privateer, listed next to stalwarts like Foursquare, Plantation, and Bacardi—a meaningful moment for the perception of American rum, for sure.
For the rum cognoscenti, however, the more meaningful moment came closer to the end of the year, when Privateer teased an upcoming release with Velier, the Italian company owned by Luca Gargano that's been behind many of the larger rum universe's most sought-after independent releases.
Privateer’s announcement of the upcoming release on Instagram.
As I wrote at the time:
“If those bottles look familiar, it's because you've seen them in Velier's Habitation Velier releases, the company's brand that specializes in "pure single rums," defined by owner Luca Gargano as 100% pot still rum from a single distillery.
“To date, Habitation Velier releases have all been from legendary distilleries like Hampden, Monymusk, Worthy Park, and Foursquare, just to name a few, all in the same distinctive bottle with labels that let the distillery and its instruments shine...
“This is obviously a big deal for Privateer, and perhaps the perception of what's possible with American rum as a whole. In less than a decade, Privateer went from producing rum for the first time to being featured by a brand known for sourcing unique expressions from some of the world's best distilleries. Imagine what might be possible for American producers in the next decade. Sure, not every American distillery has Maggie Campbell at the helm, but there are plenty of hungry, passionate folks dotting the country who are hellbent on making quality rum.”
Perhaps the people who are most aware of how big of a deal this release is are those other rum producers. When I interviewed Campbell for a to-be-announced rum podcast currently in the works, she spoke at length about the release and noted:
“It's been cool how many producers who are not part of Velier and not part of Habitation have actually reached out and told us how excited for us they are [and say], ‘This is amazing. Congratulations. We never thought we'd see the day.’”
Just the announcement itself feels like a breakthrough. I can’t wait to see how the actual release hits.
Constellation Brands Acquires a Minority Stake in Montanya Distillers
Montanya Distillers’ accomplishments in 2019 went beyond securing investment capital.
They expanded distribution into France and the UK.
They were recognized as a “Best for the World” B corporation.
They released Valentia, a four-year-old rum produced entirely by women.
But the coverage around Constellation Brands acquiring a minority stake in the Crested Butte, Colorado distillery offered insight not only into Montanya’s lofty growth goals, but also into the key role strategic partners can play for small craft brands.
Exhibit A: Montanya co-founder and CEO Karen Hoskin’s response when just-drinks asked her to describe the biggest benefit of the relationship so far:
“The biggest thing is the creation of a hybrid salesforce. One of the largest expenses for any new distillery is putting people in market, feet on the ground. If every individual brand has their own rep, then the buyers, the liquor stores and the bartenders have to meet with every single one. That isn't what they want to be doing, they've got jobs to do. They would rather have someone come in with a portfolio.
“So the ventures division of Constellation has a portfolio of venture companies. There are 13 of them, I think, at this point. We're developing a sales force together, where we have one person who represents six or eight of those brands in the market, works with the distributor, gets the product out there. It's a much less expensive proposition than me hiring someone full-time.”
As Hoskin also explained in the same interview, the deal with Constellation Brands is a partnership rather than a takeover acquisition. She is still the majority stakeholder and the one “in the driver’s seat.” Constellation has the ability to exercise a seat on Montanya’s board but, as of the time of the interview, had not done so yet.
It’s the type of relationship that American rum brands with similar aspirations—and companies considering investing in said brands—will watch closely. And that’s what makes it so important for the category.
Montanya’s new bottle design, developed with the aid of Constellation Brands. Image courtesy of Montanya Distillers.
The Increasing Importance of Meaningful Raw Ingredients
One of the best investments you can make as a distillery is in meaningful raw materials. If you’re not bursting with excitement when telling customers where the ingredients for your rum came from, you’re fighting an uphill battle before they taste it.
In 2019, we saw an increasing number of brands investing time and money in initiatives that will enable them to do just that.
Privateer Rum completed the year-long process of bringing rums made from an entirely new molasses to market.
Koloa Rum Company announced plans to plant and cultivate 10-12 acres of sugarcane fields at the site of its new, expanded headquarters in Kauai. CEO Bob Gunter said:
“We will be growing and processing cane on site to make our rum, and we are actively partnering with local farmers to increase sources of cane sugar on the island with the goal of one day being able to use only Kaua‘i-grown cane in our products.”
Koloa Rum Company breaking ground on their expanded headquarters. Image courtesy of Koloa Rum Company.
Sugar Sand Distillery in Florida expanded the amount of fresh cane juice rum they’re producing from their own estate-grown sugarcane, while several molasses-based rum makers started experimenting with small batches distilled from regionally sourced fresh cane juice.
Roulaison Distilling (New Orleans, LA) sourced theirs from a small grower a couple hours north, while Wright & Brown (Oakland, CA) turned to a family farm nearby in the Central Valley.
While not every distillery sought a new or experimental sugarcane source, plenty continued taking steps to make sure consumers understand what makes theirs special. Karen Hoskin went into deep detail on the raw Louisiana sugarcane Montanya sources—and what sets it apart—in interviews with Cocktail Wonk and Rum Revelations.
Richland Distilling founder Erik Vonk told The Rum Lab that the single estate Georgia distillery’s story is to “have no story, just information on how [the rum] is crafted.” When you grow your own cane and boil the juice into the syrup used to make your rum, that’s what you can do.
Quality, meaningful ingredients will only become more important as new producers and rums continue to enter the market going forward.
A Little-Known Arizona Rum Wins Gold at London’s International Wine and Spirits Competition
Medaling in a spirits competition isn’t usually particularly newsworthy. If you were to browse all of the 2,000+ American craft distillery websites, the majority would likely have claim to some type of award.
But winning a gold medal from the International Wine and Spirits Competition is different from winning one at the county fair. For one, the IWSC always gets entries from many of the world’s top rum producers and independent bottlers. It also seems to be a bit stingier with gold medals than most of the other major competitions.
In fact, the competition had never awarded an American rum producer a gold medal until Elgin Distillery took this one home (along with a rating of 95 points) for Regalo de Vida Ron Imperial, a rum that already stood out for the unique way it’s produced. As I noted after the award was announced:
“I talked to Elgin's head distiller and co-founder Gary Ellam back when I first listed the distillery's rums in the American rum index, and it was clear even then that this is a rather unique rum. Ellam is able to bring in fresh sugarcane from Sonora, Mexico (Elgin is only around an hour from the border), crush the cane at the distillery, and use the fresh juice in the base for the rum. It's pot distilled and aged for five years in used bourbon barrels before it's proofed down to 101.5 and bottled with no added sugar, flavors, or color.”
When I mentioned this rum around a handful of distillers at a rum event earlier in the year, their eyes lit up in the way that tells you it’s the real deal. Then their words confirmed it.
Image courtesy of Elgin Distillery.
Like most American rums, small batch production and minimal distribution makes tasting this rum a challenge, but I’m hoping to find my way to a dram of it in 2020.
Bayou Rum Expands with an $8 Million Barrel Library and Event Center
Montanya, of course, is not the only American rum brand that’s attracted the coffers of larger spirits conglomerates.
SPI Group (which owns Stoli Group) acquired 72.5% of Louisiana Spirits (makers of Bayou Rum) in 2016 and then scooped up the remaining stake in June of 2018. So it wasn’t surprising to see the Lacassine, Louisiana brand make major investments in 2019. The biggest of which was their $8 million barrel library and events center—an “abundant space to house thousands of barrels of premium rums and make way for new innovations in the rum and rum liqueur categories,” according to Bayou.
Image courtesy of Louisiana Spirits.
As I wrote when the expanded facility opened back in June:
“Bayou is certainly in position to be one of the biggest ambassadors for the new wave of American rum. Its likely to have one of the largest stock of medium- to long-aged American rums in the country within the next few years, along with wide distribution. Significant influence over global perception of the category may come with that.”
I’m eager to see how they use that growing influence as the year continues.
American Rum Distillers Give the TTB Their Thoughts
When the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau announced it was accepting public comments on proposed updates to distilled spirits regulations, I couldn’t wait to see ideas pour influential voices in the rum community.
It seemed like a great opportunity for producers and consumers to advocate for the types of changes they’ve been talking about for years—more transparency requirements, clearer standards of identity, and maybe just half the attention that’s paid to whiskey in the Federal Code of Regulations.
While there were fewer comments from the larger rum world than I’d hoped to see, there were several from U.S. rum producers and spirits organizations
The creation of a “Straight Rum” standard of identity was proposed by multiple producers, including Andrew Lohfeld of Roulaison Distilling and Maggie Campbell and Andrew Cabot of Privateer Rum. Tim Russell of Maggie’s Farm Rum supported their ideas in a comment of his own.
Campbell also advocated for official designations for Agricole, Clairin, and the recognition of Barbados and Jamaica GIs, ideas that the American Craft Spirits Association echoed in less detail in its own comment.
All of the aforementioned comments also included recommendations related to the sweetening, coloring, and flavoring of rum as well.
While there’s no guarantee any of these comments will lead to regulatory change, they’re an indicator that American rum distillers aren’t hesitating to attempt to influence the way rum is marketed and sold in the U.S.
Looking Ahead in 2020
As mentioned earlier, I chose these six items because I believe they’re indicative of what’s to come in 2020.
Expect to see more American rums recognized not just as good “for an American rum,” but as just really good rum.
The producers who go the extra mile when sourcing their ingredients—and understand how to properly communicate that to consumers—will continue to reap the rewards.
Thoughtful voices within the category will continue to advocate for regulatory changes many rum aficionados would be happy to see.
A handful of distilleries will make serious investments in expanding production and distribution.
That’s not to say everything will be sunshine and roses. Like any other subcategory of spirits, American rum has its warts.
Plenty of entries in the category exist only as an extra SKU in the eyes of their producers.
Wide-eyed newbies (and, in some cases, charlatans) throw around terms and descriptors like “high ester,” “Jamaican style,” and “Agricole” in places they don’t apply.
There is certainly room for improvement across the category.
Fortunately, there are more and more distilleries showing us the ceiling on that improvement is much higher than many once believed possible.