Soon may the Wellerman come
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguing is done
We’ll take our leave and go
― From Wellerman (Sea Shanty) by Nathan Evans
Welcome to The Rum Diaries, a new column designed to champion and showcase arguably the world’s most underrated spirits categories and one that we believe deserves much more attention in the travel retail channel.
Each episode will tell the story in words, pictures, video and tasting notes of a different rum, exploring not only the drink itself but also its back story.
Why rum? Well, let’s just say it’s personal, writes Martin Moodie. At its best, rum ranks right up there with the great whiskies and brandies (Cognac and Armagnac) of the world. But perhaps due to its reputation as a modestly priced mixer (it is the base of the famed Cuba Libre as well as cocktails such as the Daiquiri, the Piña Colada and the Mojito) and a lax definition over what actually constitutes ‘rum’ – unlike the heavily regulated, strictly enforced whisk(e)y and Cognac sectors – rum is too often known as “a bottom-shelf spirit or not at all” as Tatler Asia put it.
With white, silver, gold, dark and black all terms used by various producers to describe rum, it’s perhaps little wonder that many consumers – and retailers – are missing the opportunity proferred by the category at its best. Even the world premium is thrown around like a ‘rum tub’ barrel on a storm-tossed British Royal Navy ship.
The Rum Diaries is an effort to change that, for the travel retail channel at least. Over coming months we’ll be talking to producers from around the rum-producing world, asking retailers for their thoughts, and generally attempting to inform, champion and educate about the category.
Don’t for a moment believe that the category lacks premium potential in travel retail. When I entered this business in the late 1980s, gin was dying on its doddery old feet. Today it’s the poster child at the heart of the craft spirits revolution of recent times (between 2013 and 2019 gin sales in the UK soared from 33 million to 83 million bottles) and many duty free stores around the world stock a large and eclectic range of brands and flavours from a myriad of international and local producers.
The European Bartender School attributes that meteoric growth to a combination of five factors ― increased accessibility; being part of the cocktail culture; it’s versatile and exciting; it’s part of pop culture; and it’s low in calories and alcohol (comparatively). Well, rum certainly ticks the first four boxes while drunk at normal strength and without mixers it makes the grade on number five just as successfully as gin.
Pop culture? We all know what that did for Cognac in the USA (think Can’t Knock The Hustle by Jay-Z; and Pass The Courvoisier by Buster Rhymes). I didn’t quote the Wellerman Sea Shanty earlier just for effect. In an article on rum’s rising popularity Tatler Asia describes the simultaneous effect of off-trade spirits sales soaring during lockdown as did, believe it or not, sea shanties, which the title calls “a musical relic of the rum-swigging sailors and pirates of maritime history”.
The genre made a comeback among teenagers on TikTok every bit as impressive as gin’s 21st century renaissance thanks to Scottish singer Nathan Evans’ rendition of Wellerman, a 19th-century ditty that quickly generated millions of views on the social media platform (and 106 million on YouTube).
Given travel retail’s necessary focus on the buying habits of younger consumers, it’s also worth noting a recent report by Perseverance Market Research, which notes: “Millennials are the key consumers of rum across the globe, as rum is a comparatively economic drink as compared to other spirits.
“Millennials also have decent spending power, and are more willing to spend on alcohol as compared to other consumer categories. The marked preference for rum over other alcoholic drinks by millennials is one of the reasons that boosts the growth of the global rum market.” Now that’s what I call a trade-up opportunity in travel retail.
THE RUM DIARIES – EQUIANO
Our Rum Diaries journey begins with Equiano from The Equiano Rum Company. Equiano was launched in June 2020 as the world’s first African and Caribbean rum – dubbed by its makers “a never seen before blend of two cultures, two distilleries and two islands, making it a perfect collaboration of east and west”.
Equiano was co-created by Ian Burrell – a famed Global Rum Ambassador voted in 2020 as one of the ten most influential people in the drinks industry by Drinks International and Bar World – and Richard Seale, CEO and Master Distiller of R.L. Seale and Foursquare Distillery — one of the world’s few independent rum producers.
Equiano Original is a limited-batch blend from Gray’s in Mauritius and the world-renowned Barbadian distillery Foursquare. Equiano is 100% true rum, natural with no spices, no additives and no added sugar.
Molasses based, Equiano has rich and deep flavours from the ex-Cognac and ex-Bourbon casks that it tropically matures in — 10 year old French Limousin Oak and ex-Cognac casks from Africa married with 8 year-old American oak casks and ex-Bourbon casks from the Caribbean.
The brand is named after the writer, entrepreneur, abolitionist and freedom fighter Olaudah Equiano. Kidnapped in 1756 at the age of 11 in what is today Nigeria and enslaved through the abomination of the transatlantic slave trade, Equiano taught himself to read, write, count and trade.
By selling puncheons of rum, he eventually paved his way to liberation. Equiano later settled in the UK, travelling the world as a freeman, campaigning vigorously about the injustice and horror of slavery, and penning an acclaimed autobiography – The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, the African – the first self-told account of the horrors of slavery.
The work was integral to the passing of the Slave Trade Act in 1807, ten years after Equiano’s death, which banned the practice across the British empire and helped drive its ultimate abolition in the USA in 1865.
In honouring the man who inspired the brand and in recognition that modern-day slavery still exists in multiple forms, The Equiano Rum Co donates 5% of company profits to ground level freedom and equality projects annually while €2/£2/US$2 from every bottle sold through www.equianorum.com goes directly into the Equiano Foundation.
To celebrate the launch of The Rum Diaries, I spoke to Ian Burrell, one of the world’s most renowned experts on the category, about Equiano, his fascinating lifelong rum journey, and why he thinks rum has huge untapped potential in travel retail (see video podcast below).
Asked about rum’s often underwhelming presence in travel retail, Burrell, says, “It’s got massive potential. There’s a very high percentage of people who travel because they are going to a place to enjoy ourselves on a holiday break. If you’re coming from the cooler climates like here in the UK, you want to travel to somewhere exotic, somewhere warm.
“And it’s no coincidence that rum is made in lots of these places. That’s because it’s made from sugar cane, which needs that tropical heat and doesn’t need a lot of rain to grow.
“So there are lots of local indigenous rums in areas where we go on holiday. Boutique shops will have a small representation of local rums. But there’s nothing international to basically say that these rums are transcending their borders and going around the world – just to let people understand that rum is not only a growing and important category but a very tasty and premium one.”
In the interview Burrell says: “When I walk into an airport and I see a World of Whiskies shop, I really wish there was a World of Rums store that could be taken around the big airports or duty free outlets and showcase a wide variety of premium, high-end rums.”
Burrell points out that rum distillers are in a position to provide premiumised travel retail-exclusives due to availability of aged stock – a contrast with some Scotch whisky producers.
Equiano is represented in the channel by GMAX Travel Retail, the UK company founded by industry veteran Garry Maxwell (ex-Premier Portfolio) in 2020, supported by long-time Brown-Forman executive Tim Young who has also created his own business,
What the critics sayHaving swept up at a number of international spirits competitions, there’s a lot of expectation on Equiano Rum. But it doesn’t disappoint. The nose is gentle and smooth, with ribbons of caramel and dollops of orange and vanilla, tempered by oak and cocoa. The palate is rich: caramel is studded with dried fruits and warm spices, chocolate-dipped ginger and pepper enter the fray for the finish. – BBC Good Food There is eloquence in the balance of this rum that is hard to achieve in a normal blend, let alone from rums from two distinctly different distilleries. One of the things I judge rum by is how well the aroma and the flavor profile complement each other. Sometimes there is a real disconnect between them, but in this case the promise the aroma makes to the senses is kept by the flavours discovered on the palate creating an elevated tasting experience. – Paul Senft, Got Rum? Distilled and aged a minimum of eight years in Africa & the Caribbean, then finished in Cognac and ex-Bourbon casks, this rum is on the sweeter side of the spectrum. The rich amber hue and mild brown sugar aroma leads into a bold palate rich with mocha, fudge and toffee slicked with brown butter. Marmalade lingers into the long, cinnamon-spiced finish. – Kara Newman, Wine Enthusiast The Moodie View: Equiano Light has a lovely straw-coloured hue with a zesty grassiness on the nose and unmistakeable hints of vanilla. This fusion of lightly aged molasses Caribbean rum with fresh African sugar cane juice rum has got more complexity than you’d expect and a lovely balanced creaminess in the mouth. I liked it neat with a single cube of ice but it’s the perfect base for a mean Daiquiri. Equiano Original: The promise of the beautiful amber/gold colour colour is delivered in a lovely rounded aroma fizzing with cinnamon and baked apples, the spice and oak in splendid harmony. On the palate it’s deliciously rich with bountiful dried fruits and spice but with none of the cloying sweetness you get with a lot of rums. The finish, with its nice gingery tang underlines and accentuates that dryness. I drank this fine rum accompanied by a Partagás Serie D No. 4 cigar, whose restrained balance of earthiness and spiciness made it a marriage made in heaven. – Martin Moodie What the judges say
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