Welcome to Taunton Massachusetts

One of the fun things about visiting southeastern Massachusetts is seeing all of the historic buildings in the area.  This is City Hall in Taunton, built in 1896.  This building has such wonderful colonial style and always a welcoming sight as you drive up Highway 44 into town.

Panama Aged Rum Arrives in Global Markets

Kuna Panamanian Rum

     Mauritius-based Lookout Group has launched an eight-year-old Panamanian rum brand, called   Kuna is an aged rum from Panama.    The expression is made using sugarcane from Panama, which is fermented and distilled during the country’s dry season – December to April – before being aged for eight years in ex-Bourbon casks.  The rums are then blended and aged for a further six months in French oak barrels, which produces “sweet and subtle smoky aromas with a hint of red fruit and a smooth character”.

Kuna.

     Kuna is named after one of Panama’s oldest communities, with packaging inspired by the tribe’s famous ‘Mola’ textile art.  “Kuna provides a distinctive rum experience that blends contemporary feel with craftsmanship.”  To support the launch, Lookout Group has launched a campaign that “taps into the worlds of music, design and expressive storytelling”.

     The premium rum category continues to gain momentum globally, according to Christophe Aulner, CEO of Lookout Group. “We’re seeing a lot of interest from curious consumers looking for quality drink brands with strong heritage”.   “Kuna provides a distinctive rum experience that blends contemporary feel with craftsmanship.”

     Kuna is available globally at an from $49.00 to $52.00 .

Home Again, Home Again, Giggity Gig

Nancy, Cathy, Me and Mom

     Back in Key West, my annual trip to Boston to see my mother is now behind me.  I love to get to see her each year, but driving and dealing with the craziness of the Massachusetts driving is enough to scare me to death.  There is a reason that I live on a 2 by 4 mile island at the end of the Florida Keys.

The Nearly 200 Year Old House

     It is always a fun day wandering around the farm and visiting with my mom.  We had a great time, my two sisters and mom, it was nice to get together again.   The highlight of the trip was the family going to dinner together and just spending some quality time together.  There is even a tom and two hen wild turkeys that frequent the yard every day.

     The other good news is that I survived the highways and made my flight on time at 6:00 am.  The flight to Miami and then on to Key West brought an end to an exciting visit.  Yes, it is good to be home as usual.  It doesn't matter where I travel, be it to the Caribbean  or Boston, it is great to be back to my favorite place on earth.

Wild Turkeys in the Yard

Two Rums Make the Top Ten in Growth for 2017

     Another interesting strong showing by the rum category in a time of very strong whiskey demand in the spirits industry.  These are good brands that are making a good growth showing in this market.  It is always great to see rums doing well in the fastest growth reports.

     The list has been compiled as part of The Spirits Business‘s Brand Champions report, including only brands that sell more than one million nine-liter cases annually.  There are some familiar names in this latest round-up, a number of brands have managed to sustain their impressive trajectory for yet another year.  While the fastest­ growing spirits brands span all types of categories, price points and geographies, most seem to be smaller-­scale, at least among the ranks of million-­case brands.

# 9 Ron Medellin Rum

Fabrica de Alcoholes y Licores de Antioquia-­owned brand Ron Medellin achieved impressive double-­digit growth of 15.7%.in 2017.  Made in Colombia, Ron Medellin is predominantly consumed in Latin America. Its core range consists of a 12- and an eight-year-old expression.  These are fine rums that are great to be enjoyed either neat, on the rocks or in cocktails.

# 7 Tanduay Rum

The world’s best-selling rum brand, Tanduay, achieved huge growth in 2017 to reach 19.5m cases. The Philippine rum brand surpassed Bacardi in the volume of sales with an impressive increase of 17.5%, the most of any rum brand among the million-case sellers.  Tanduay rum also signed a multi-year partnership to become the Official Rum of the Brooklyn Nets, an NBA team, in April last year. The deal comes as Tanduay looks to boost its business in the US.

The Ernest Hemingway Collection at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library

    The Ernest Hemingway Collection at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library is the most comprehensive set of archives in the world.  It is the essential source for anyone that is interested in an in depth study of Ernest Hemingway and his writings.  There are personal papers, nearly 11,000 photographs of Hemingway and a collection of his family’s personal papers as well.

Pilar Hemingway's Beloved Fishing Yacht

     When Ernest Hemingway died in 1961, a very big portion of his literary and personal estate remained at Finca Vigia, his Cuban Home.   Despite a U.S. ban on travel to Cuba – the result of high tensions between the two countries following the Bay of Pigs incident – President Kennedy was able to make arrangements for Mary Hemingway, Ernest’s widow, to enter Cuba to claim family documents and belongings.  While in Cuba Mary Hemingway met with Fidel Castro who allowed her to take her husband’s papers and artwork, in exchange for the donation of their home and the remaining belongings to the people of Cuba., Finca Vigia.  Included was his beloved fishing yacht Pilar in the exchange.  It has been restored for a second time and is on display on the tennis court at Finca Vigia.

Ernest and Pauline in Key West

     Nearly 2500 digital scans of the author’s materials housed at his house in San Francisco de Paula outside of Havana have been made available in print form.  This material has never been seen outside of Cuba prior to this release.  There are a number of interesting items including, letters, passports, telegrams, household accounts, bar bills, recipes, and a notebook of hurricane observations.  There are so many other items included that I don’t have the space to mention. All of these items were made available under an agreement with the Cuban Council of National Heritage trough the efforts of the U.S. Finca Vigia Foundation.

     Unfortunately, I was not aware that you have to make an appointment to get into the Hemingway collection, thus I was not able to personally view the collection. Maybe next time.

Cruzan Rum Launches Disaster Relief Fund

     In response to devastation caused by last year’s Hurricane Maria, Cruzan Rum has launched the Island Spirit Fund to support disaster relief efforts in the US Virgin Islands and across the US. The Beam Suntory-owned brand has pledged to donate $1.00 from every case of rum sold to the Island Spirit Fund, which will be used to help rebuild communities affected by storms.  The brand expects to raise almost $1 million for the Island Spirit Fund through its donation scheme this year alone.  Furthermore, several distribution partners have agreed to match Cruzan Rum’s donations, bringing the expected total to $2 million by the end of 2018.

     Gary Nelthropp, Cruzan Rum’s master distiller, said: “Last year, our home island of St Croix faced many challenges in the devastating wake of Hurricane Maria, but the resiliency of the Crucian people and our sense of community never wavered.  “That’s what we like to call our ‘island spirit’, and I’m honored to help extend this spirit to others in a sustainable and ongoing way through the fund, ensuring that no community, near of far, weathers a storm alone.” 

     To establish the fund, Cruzan Rum has partnered with Global Giving, a non-profit organization that works to connect donors with grassroots projects around the world.  The Island Spirit Fund will offer disaster relief through grants to local organizations working on the ground in affected areas.  It will prioritise short-term recovery and long-term stability projects, including environmental rebuilding, community planning and workforce development and job creation.

     Rashidi Hodari, vice president, marketing, Cruzan Rum, said: “We’re incredibly humbled by the way our distributor partners have stepped up to further our efforts.  “Our roots in the Caribbean run deep and by joining together, we’re able to provide much needed physical and emotional support beyond the initial days, weeks and months following the disaster.” Cruzan Rum was forced to shut down temporarily in 2017 due to damage caused by Hurricane Maria.

SPI Group Acquires Louisiana Spirits and Bayou Rum

SPI Group, affiliate of Stoli Group, today announced that it's taken on complete ownership of Bayou Rum and its award winning line of handcrafted Louisiana Rums.

     SPI Group announced it has fully acquired Louisiana Spirits, the makers of Bayou Rum, per a release. SPI Group purchased a majority stake in the company (72.5%) in June 2016. You may recall, at the same time its subsidiary Stoli Group USA took over US distribution of the Bayou Rum brand, marking the company's first foray into craft spirits. No purchase price was disclosed.

     “We thank Skip Cortese and Trey and Tim Litel, the founders of Louisiana Spirits and Bayou Rum, for creating a spirit with such a fantastic heritage and high-quality taste, we are committed to the Louisiana roots that they established seven years ago,” said Hugues Pietrini, global president and CEO of Stoli Group. “Bayou Rum is a premium range that is primed for significant distribution growth in the U.S. and globally. This acquisition will allow our team to take this brand to the next level, working with the distillery team on new ranges, increasing volumes and becoming a true player in the rum category.” 

     "This acquisition will allow our team to take this brand to the next level, working with the distillery on new ranges, increasing volumes and becoming a true player in the rum category," says SPI Group global president and CEO Hugues Pietrini.  Hugues adds that the portfolio is "primed for significant distribution growth in the US and globally." After being named “Best Large-Scale Visitor Center” in Drinks International’s 2017 Distillery Experience Challenge, the Bayou Rum distillery broke ground last summer on an expansion, adding a barrel library, an event space and an outdoor entertainment venue, valued at more than $6 million.

     SPI Group is also in the middle of a $6 million expansion project for the Louisiana Spirits facility, adding a barrel library, event space and outdoor entertainment venue [see WSD 11-30-2017].   Moreover, SPI Group is currently tangled up in a lawsuit with Louisiana Spirits founders LSBR. You may recall, LSBR claims SPI Group breached their contract, but SPI says the accusations are "baseless" 

Hemingway's Boat Pilar

     These days I get to spend a lot of time at the Hemingway Rum Company as a Rum Maker.  The rum that is sold there is called Papa's Pilar, a name taken from a combination of the name that he was affectionately known as during 1939 through 1960 the years that he called Cuba home.   The boat itself is in pretty good condition for its age, delivered April 18, 1934 and today it is 84 years old.  You can see it sitting on the tennis court at Finca la Vagia just outside of Havana, Cuba.  If you take the trip to Havana, Finca la Vagia is worth the taxi ride to see the entire museum, his house has pretty much just like it was when he left it for good on July 25, 1960

The United States Top Five States That Like to Drink

     New research has revealed where to find the biggest drinkers in the USA.   The study, carried out by gambling website PlayUSA, looks into the number of times Americans have used the internet to search for places to drink alcohol in their state over the past month, taking in a total of 823 million search entries on websites such as Google and Yahoo.   The data takes into account both the number of overall searches, but also the total population of individual states, offering a new perspective on the nation’s drinking habits and go-to destinations for a night out.

     Despite ranking as the state with the most searches, notorious tourist hotspot California’s larger population means that, proportionately, locals are not more inclined to head out to a bar. California ranked in 10th place for drinking searches, behind Maryland and New Jersey.

The ultimate in ‘happy drunks’, 2.48% of Minnesotans fall into this drinking category. Just over 136,000 people have searched for drinking spots in Minnesota online in recent months.  2.57% of Massachusetts residents like to get drunk at the weekends and evenings, according to search data.  Oregon ranks as the USA’s third thirstiest state, with residents researching nights out at least 115,800 times each month.   Colorado staggers in in second place, with 3.16% of Colorado inhabitants googling for alcohol, equating to just over 175,000 searches.   Somewhat unsurprisingly, New Yorkers top the list, racking up over half a million drinking-related searches in just one month.

     Not seeing Florida in the top five really surprises, with the large number of tourists that live on their phones looking for places to party, especially in the beach towns.

Rum Sales Leader Board Changes Again

     Philippine brand Tanduay has overtaken Bacardi to become the world’s best-selling rum brand after reporting 17.5% growth last year.  The Asian rum’s sales hit 19.5 million cases in 2017, while Bacardi’s fell 2.7% to 16.8 million cases, according to Brand Champions data published by The Spirits Business magazine.  In 2016, Bacardi lead the world in sales with 2 million cases, while Tanduay was in second place with 16.6 million cases.  In recent years, Bacardi has shifted its focus to more premium positioning, in April this year.

     The Brand Champions report analyses the case sales of the world’s best-selling spirits, awarding the ‘Brand Champion’ title to high-performing products within each category. Data published in the report shows a mixed performance for brands across the rum category in 2017.  According to figures from market researcher provider Euromonitor, total rum sales increased 0.7% in 2017 to 144m cases.

Rum

 (Figures in million 9 liter case sales)

BRAND	OWNER	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	%+/­
Tanduay	Tanduay Distillers	14.0	17.0	16.5	16.6	19.5	17.5%
Bacardí	Bacardi	19.1	18.2	17.4	17.2	16.8	-2.7%
McDowell’s No.1 Rum	United Spirits	16.2	16.6	16.2	14.9	12.5	-16.1%
Captain Morgan	Diageo	10.3	10.4	10.3	10.7	11.7	9.3%
Havana Club	Pernod Ricard	3.9	4.0	4.0	4.2	4.4	4.8%
Barceló	Ron Barceló	2.1	2.2	2.0	2.1	2.2	6.3%
Contessa	Radico Khaitan	2.6	2.7	2.7	2.0	1.8	-10.1%
Ron Medellin	Fabrica de Alcoholes y Licores de Antioquia	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.4	1.6	15.7%
Old Port Rum	Amrut Distillers	1.5	1.8	1.9	1.7	1.3	-22.3%
Appleton Estate	Gruppo Campari	1.2	1.2	1.3	1.2	1.2	0.0%
Božkov	Stock Spirits Group	0.9	0.9	1.2	1.1	1.1	3.5%
Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum	William Grant & Sons	0.9	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	-2.0%
Cacique	Diageo	2.2	1.2	1.1	1.0	1.0	0.0%
Negrita	La Martiniquaise-­Bardinet	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	-2.0%

Read More at https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/brand-champions/