Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Maggie Campbell: A Master of American Rum

Maggie Campbell

     Maggie is the head distiller and president of Privateer Rum Company.   Wondering what she was going to do with her University of Colorado philosophy degree, took a family trip to Scotland, where she visited a local whisky distillery.   She said that “It opened my eyes that this is an actual job people do.”
     She saw spirits producers, a serious and driven group with fastidious attention to detail and a reliance on chemistry as her people. After visiting lots of distilleries, working as an assistant and receiving a diploma in craft distilling technologies from the Siebel Institute , she landed her current role at Privateer Rum in Ipswich, Mass.
     “As someone who never set out to make rum, it has been amazing,” the 33-year-old says. Rum is global, multidimensional and so very different from other spirits categories.  All the rums she makes are unfiltered and unsweetened, and each, she vehemently believes, needs to be accessible. “The point is to have people drink them,” she says. 
Privateer Rum
     Boston has a long and historical connection to rum, and like many of the colonial distillers from the same area, Maggie is trying to do it her way and not just another copy of the Caribbean Rums.   “We want to capture the North Atlantic maritime style, with its great meso-climate for aging, including the humidity swings that affect how it develops and evaporates, and the push and pull of the oak.” Temperature-controlled fermentation near Beantown is a breeze, retaining delicate aromas and super unique expressions.
     Our founder’s ancestor, the original Andrew Cabot ,1750-1791, was a merchant, rum distiller and successful American privateer during the American Revolution. His fleet totaled more than twenty-five ships including the True American, for which our rum is named.   We carry on this spirit of New England independence and gritty determination by dedicating ourselves to making only the finest rums possible.    
     Maggie Campbell is a prime example of American Rum makers with the grit and drive to do it her way and not compromise her goals and quality of her rum.