Food & Drink

Rum’s journey to premiumisation

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Rum has had an uphill battle to be taken severely by spirits aficionados. However now producers are decided to capitalise on a renewed curiosity within the sector and take the drink into the premier league, writes Tom Bruce-Gardyne.

Brewdog Distilling 500 Cuts Rum

First-year volumes of Brewdog Distilling’s 5 Hundred Cuts Rum exceeded expectations regardless of the loss in bar gross sales resulting from Covid-19 lockdowns

As lockdowns began to take impact world wide a 12 months in the past, Miguel Riascos, managing director and co-founder of Colombian rum La Hechicera, was braced for the worst. “Again in March [2020], the sensation was folks had been going to be extraordinarily cautious and shrink all the way down to manufacturers they knew very nicely,” he recollects. “However what we’ve seen is definitely the alternative. I feel folks can’t journey bodily, so they’re travelling by their tastes, and so they’re trying to purchase new manufacturers from unique locations.”

Denied journey or nights out, shoppers have had time to discover new classes, and uncover new manufacturers digitally as by no means earlier than. And, if Riascos is true that they’re in search of out spirits of origin it might assist rum in its long‐held ambition to move up market. As Edouard Beaslay, world advertising and marketing director at Venezuelan model Diplomático, says: “Rum might be the final main class to premiumise, and that’s as a result of it was related to huge manufacturers with not lots of product high quality.”

Rum and Coke, that the majority ubiquitous cocktail, could have carried out wonders for quantity however not worth. Due to a sea of normal white rum and low cost spiced rum with no sense of provenance, the world’s third‐largest spirit’s class is backside‐heavy. In accordance with the Distilled Spirits Council of the US (Discus), 85% of rum within the US was worth or premium in 2020, whereas tremendous‐premium, which incorporates Diplomático and La Hechicera, was simply 3%. Against this, tremendous‐premium Scotch was 15% of its complete, whereas the equal for Tequila was 23%. “Sure, we nonetheless have an extended street forward of us,” concedes Beaslay. “Nevertheless it’s additionally our huge alternative.”

He believes provenance is “clearly a fantastic measure of authenticity”, however not a straightforward message to transmit. “It’s a bit difficult anticipating folks to start out considering of Barbados versus Venezuela versus Guatemala,” he says. “It’s a tricky street, and as a marketer I wouldn’t go there.” Whereas Diplomático is pleased with its Venezuelan roots, it’s simply a part of the story, in his view, and he reckons: “It’s extra about explaining to those who there are rums made for sipping, and others which are made for mixing and to get pleasure from at huge events.”

But Sazerac’s new Jung and Wulff model is regional to its core, with its Trinidad No.1, Guyana No.2 and Barbados No.3 rums. “The liquid is a real illustration of the terroir from the three islands, the wealthy soil through which the sugarcane is grown,” says Liam Sparks, bond and royal portfolio supervisor at its UK importer, Hello‐Spirits.

Steven Kersley, director of distilling operations at Brewdog Distilling, has additionally seen “how the darkish rum class has segmented into areas, and the way persons are beginning to affiliate rums with geography”. He’s all for producers “calling out the place their rum is made, and being clear about it on the bottle”, however not as “a flavour differentiator”, he says. “I’m a agency believer that you could make any model of spirit that you really want if you happen to’ve obtained the proper uncooked supplies and the information.”

Brewdog’s 5 Hundred Cuts Botanical Rum, launched in October 2019, was to be rolled out in bars and pubs in what Kersley calls “the traditional textbook mannequin [where] you launch a model within the on‐commerce, and construct it within the off‐commerce”. However with Covid‐19, it was all change. “We reverted to our e‐commerce platform the place we’ve obtained a superb on-line store, and within the first lockdown at‐residence ingesting actually elevated,” he says. Because of this, 5 Hundred Cuts’ first‐12 months volumes exceeded expectations regardless of the loss in bar gross sales.

James Stocker, Halewood Spirits’ advertising and marketing director, provides: “As folks have spent extra time at residence over the previous 12 months, they’ve undoubtedly develop into much more experimental of their drinks selections, whether or not that’s taking a look at new cocktails or new flavour profiles.” His rum model, Useless Man’s Fingers, has gone huge into flavoured rums.

Diplomatico distillery

The Diplomático distillery in Venezuela

PREMIUM RUM

In the meantime, Ian Forbes, Angostura’s performing CEO and a director of the West Indies Rum and Spirits Producers Affiliation, says: “We view the premium rum area with pleasure. Provenance is on the coronary heart of what we’re doing as producers, and though as a area now we have similarities, it’s our personal uniqueness and variety that defines Trinidadian rums as being totally different from Haitian rum or Jamaican.” Coming from Trinidad, arguably the Caribbean’s most culturally various island, units Angostura aside, in his view.

Whether or not all these variations from one rum island to the following emerge within the glass is debatable, however they’re essential for constructing a singular story by packaging and the entire advertising and marketing combine. Pernod Ricard’s Havana Membership definitely performs on its roots, and advertising and marketing director Anne Martin talks of how, over the previous 12 months, “now we have continued to carry Cuban vitality, creativity and legitimacy to the class”. She calls Havana Membership “the worldwide chief within the tremendous‐premium‐and‐above class”, and claims there may be “a rising curiosity for high quality aged rums, which has enabled rum to ascertain itself as a reputable various to excessive‐finish classics corresponding to Scotch and Cognac”.

Havana Membership clearly suffered in journey retail and the on‐commerce in 2020, and its worth slipped 9% in Pernod Ricard’s newest half‐12 months outcomes (June‐December). Nonetheless, the off‐commerce absorbed a lot of the ache. “With fewer folks at the moment capable of go to bars and eating places, now we have seen shoppers redirect a few of their spend towards larger‐finish rums,” says Martin. “This has firmly established rum as a drink for sipping events, and paved the way in which for a rising curiosity in our extra premium expressions.”

Diplomático’s Beaslay agrees, and says: “Within the US whenever you exit and have a cocktail it’s US$15 a shot, so for the worth of three cocktails you’ve obtained a extremely good bottle to drink at residence.” Having seen his 2020 US gross sales develop regardless of the pandemic, Beaslay is betting on the US for future progress. “It’s a market that understands ‘premium’, and that has premiumised in each different class,” he says. “There’s this sense within the commerce that tremendous‐premium rum would be the subsequent class that’s actually going to develop.”

The US surge in premium Tequila, a class that was as soon as extra commoditised and low‐grade than rum, is a supply of inspiration to producers corresponding to Riascos at La Hechicera. “Tequila did the story‐telling and sense of origin half very nicely,” he says, earlier than itemizing what he calls the ‘premium progress‐drivers’ concerned. Amongst them, he contains: traceability, the human story behind the manufacturers, authenticity and nation of origin. “Rum has precisely that to supply. So, sure, we are able to tear a web page from Tequila’s handbook,” he says.

GLOBAL SPREAD

But, in contrast to Beaslay, he’s not specializing in the US a lot as Europe, notably the UK. “It’s one to observe,” he says. “It’s very promising, and although it’s nonetheless not on the degree of France, issues normally kick off within the UK and go to the East Coast of the US, and from there unfold globally.”

Angostura is eyeing up Continental Europe and the world past. “We’re reaching out so far as South Africa and Australia, and to the untapped potential of nations just like the Philippines and Indonesia,” says Forbes.

Any producer struggling to crack the US, in the meantime, can take consolation from Havana Membership, which sells greater than 4 million circumstances globally regardless of being banned within the nation due to the age‐previous Cuban commerce embargo.

Forbes ends by echoing Riascos’ remark firstly. “Individuals have a yearning for journey and experiences,” he says. “Our spirit is able to transporting you to these locations. In case you keep in mind having an exquisite night with a Cuban or Jamaican sundown, or on the Trinidad Carnival, our spirit can provide the flavour of that specific island.”

For extra on rum premiumisation, learn our interview with Mark Reynier of Renegade Rum

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