American Rum Report #21 — January 3, 2020
As we kick off 2020, I spent some time over the past few days thinking through the biggest American rum stories and developments from the last year.
What happened in 2019 that will have the biggest influence on the category (and people's perception of it) in 2020?
I narrowed it down to six events and broader themes that I think are worth revisiting as we ponder what's next, and ran through them all in a new article:
2019 in Review: The 6 Most Important American Rum Stories of the Year—and What They Mean for 2020
I'd love for you to check it out and respond to this email with a few of your own thoughts. There was definitely a lot to consider!
Plus, it wouldn't be a full report without a handful of interesting rum stories to catch up on 🔗
Several American rum producers give insight into the growing market force of canned cocktails — Maggie Campbell of Privateer Rum, who also serves as vice president of the American Craft Spirits Association, spoke to the flood of entries the ACSA received when the organization added a canned cocktails category to its tasting competition: “Canned cocktails have become the talk of the distilling world. I was surprised and amazed by how many [entries] we got. It’s the largest growth we’ve seen in any category…and we added it as an afterthought with no promotion around it.”
Forbes published a good look at the 11th hour extension on federal tax reductions distillers fortunately received—and the coming fight to make them permanent — When the American Craft Spirits Association polled 100 of its members on the issue, over 50% said they would have had to immediately cut jobs had the extension failed to pass, while 15% said they would have had to cut production.
That's all for this week. On a sincere note, thank you for subscribing and following American rum with me over the last year. I've had a blast writing about it, and the support, feedback, and ongoing rum conversations with subscribers make it all the more enjoyable.