American Rum Report #29 — May 14, 2020
~ In This Report ~
#1: Montanya Distillers expands international distribution to the UK 🇬🇧
#2: Richland Rum founder Erik Vonk details the Georgia distillery's struggles amid the COVID-19 pandemic 😷
#3: Lost Spirits Distillery is opening a new "interactive experience" in Las Vegas 🎰
#4: Rum Revelations reviews four bottles of Privateer Rum 🥃
#5: Ko Hana Distillers in Oahu is now shipping its fresh cane juice rum to the mainland 🏝️
#1: Montanya Distillers expands distribution in the UK 🇬🇧
Montanya is one of only a handful of American rum producers with overseas distribution. Thanks to a new partnership with London-based Skylark Spirits, its presence in the UK and EU is about to expand even further.
Given the lockdown, it may take some time before Montanya starts popping up in UK bars and restaurants, but in the meantime Skylark Spirits has helped the Colorado rum brand get listed on the Master of Malt online store. This will allow anyone in Europe to have Montanya rums shipped right to their door.
So, what about Montanya convinced Skylark Spirits it would have appeal overseas? Company director Jaz Anand said:
“Montanya is an authentic and unique craft rum brand with an incredible story that we now get to share. Montanya not only makes delicious rums, but it also proves you can do business while taking care of the essentials like the environment, diversity, community, and philanthropy. As a certified B Corp, Montanya is a company others look to as a role model. We’re honored to be their partner.”
Montanya's core four rum expressions—Platino, Oro, Exclusiva, and Valentia—will all be available through Skylark Spirits.
I'm looking forward to seeing how the UK market responds!
#2: Richland Rum founder Erik Vonk details the Georgia distillery's struggles amid the COVID-19 pandemic 😷
This piece on the pandemic's impact on craft distilleries across the country highlighted the difficulties Richland Rum has faced. I've included the entire section below, as the quotes from founder Erik Vonk paint a vivid picture:
The owner of Richland Distilling Company in Georgia, which produces rum, said sales stopped when the pandemic began.
“Since then, we have had no new orders from any of our distributors in the 15 states or the 11 countries we work in,” said Erik Vonk, owner of Richland Distilling Company. “It’s like the plug was pulled and sales dropped to absolutely zero, it has been an enormous hit.”
The distillery was unable to produce hand sanitizer due to the method it uses for its rum production — so selling some sanitizer to stay afloat wasn’t an option for them.
“For us, that is very difficult because we use very simple and old-fashioned copper pot stills,” Vonk said. “For us to switch over to the new process and base material would have been a huge disruption in our production capabilities.”
The distillery has had zero income for roughly six weeks, but nonetheless managed to keep all of their employees on their payroll. “We are paying these people out of our personal savings,” Vonk said. “In the not-too-distant future, we will start to scrape the bottom of the barrel.”
Vonk applied for the Payroll Protection Program, and even though they were approved, it only covered payroll costs for a few weeks.
“We have received the loan, but then it is based on the average payroll in 2019, and we were a fast-growing company. So the payroll at the end of the first quarter in 2020 was considerably larger,” Vonk said. “So while the loan is intended to cover about eight to 10 weeks of payroll, on our case it only covered four weeks, so we have depleted the loan entirely.”
Georgia is now reopening, so Vonk's company is hoping to make up for lost revenue and replenish their personal savings. He said it's slow going so far.
“We have had both tasting rooms open and have begun to see, though be it very modest, we have begun to see some traffic, a few hundred dollars per location per day,” Vonk said. “It doesn’t pay the bills, but it gets us above zero.”
Now would be a great time to pick up or order a bottle of Richland Rum if you can. You can find out where to get it right here.
Their online store also has bottles of the sugarcane syrup they use to make their rum, which I've heard great things about.
#3: Lost Spirits Distillery is opening a new "interactive experience" in Las Vegas 🎰
Lost Spirits Distillery is primarily known for two things:
An "accelerated aging" process that involves bombarding rum with super intense light while oak barrel pieces soak within.
A Willy-Wonka-Meets-Island-of-Dr.-Moreau tour experience at its Los Angeles distillery that involves a boat ride down an indoor waterway, dragons, jungle paraphernalia, and more.
Now, founder Bryan Davis is expanding to a second location in Las Vegas that sounds like it will live up to the distillery's whimsical reputation. From the article:
“Visitors to the new Lost Spirits experience can expect a dreamscape of whisky and rum tastings, boat rides, under sea train rides, and holograms paired with exceptional fine dining and world class whisky and rum.”
The Vegas location will be in a new retail/event/art space called AREA15 that, well...sounds like it was made specifically for tenants like Lost Spirits!
I'll let this description from AREA15's leasing info PDF explain:
“AREA15 is the manifestation of a new concept called the "immersive bazaar." Immersive means completely engaged from the inside out. A bazaar is a souk, a colorful marketplace or a festival setting. AREA15 is where these two elements meet and blend.”
Yeah. So anyway, this is what it looks like:
The distillery mocked up on the right looks a little too ordinary for what I imagine the Lost Spirits installation will be. :)
#4: Rum Revelations reviews four bottles of Privateer Rum 🥃
I always enjoy Ivar de Laat's comparative rum reviews, and this latest one is no exception.
He takes a look at three Distiller's Drawer releases (including one of the sought-after New England Bottled in Bond releases) and a Queen's Share.
No spoilers here—just check it out for yourself!
#5: Ko Hana Distillers in Oahu is now shipping to the mainland 🏝️
On May 5, the distillery announced it can now ship all of its rums to California, New York, Texas, Colorado, Washington, Florida, Illinois, Idaho, Ohio, New Mexico, Nebraska, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
According to Ko Hana, these shipping opportunities opened thanks to the loosening of certain laws "to help small businesses like ours navigate through the pandemic."