Rum Connoisseur

Interview Of The Week

FELICITY GRANDSEN

Co-owner at Ron Colón Salvadoreño

 

1. Who is Felicity Gransden?

I grew up in the countryside in England, my family had an allotment and we grew all of our own vegetables. I think this is where my love of food and fascination with flavour began. After graduating from university in London, I got a job in my local bar. This was mainly to cover my rent whilst I searched for something more long-term, however, a week after I started I found myself sat in a Havana Club training from Meimi Sanchez. Six years on and it’s still one of the best trainings I’ve ever had; it opened a whole new world to me. This set me on a path to research and understand as many spirits as I could, and build on my love of food and flavour.

A year later I left the bar to go and work with Belsazar Vermouth as their ambassador, still one of my all-time favorite brands. This gave me the opportunity to understand the industry from the other side of the bar, and a few years later I moved to Berlin to work with Our/Vodka – a series of micro distilleries spread across Europe and the US. Through designing training programmes from the Berlin distillery, I became fascinated with the science of creating spirits, aromatics and flavour molecules. It was at this point I joined the team behind Ron Colón and began developing the recipe for coffee-infused rum from El Salvador.

2. Biggest achievement you personally feel you have accomplished for the rum industry.

I am relatively new to the rum industry, having joined in 2018 when I began working with Ron Colón. I hope I have some big achievements to boast about in the future, but for now I would say I feel very fortunate to a part of the team that produced Ron Colón rum and I have worked with wonderful people and beautiful produce from El Salvador. I feel very proud of the coffee-infused rum recipe I developed, and feel passionate about continuing my journey in blending the two worlds of coffee and rum.

3. What made you fall in love with rum and when did it happen?

2017 for sure! When travelling around Europe with my new colleague Thurman, we went to 6 countries in 4 weeks and we would visit 3-5 bars a night. It was imporatnt to build an understanding of each bar we visited, learning what they offered to their city and how each bartender’s preference drove the local bar scene. Until this point I was all about aperitivos, bitters and vodka, but these 4 weeks away allowed me to try many, many different spirits. As Thurman was a rum guy, he introduced me to a huge variety of sipping rums, and enjoying daiquiris with high-proof rums.

 

4. What is that thing that makes you want to continue in the rum industry?

The sense of community, and the sharing of knowledge. I don’t think another category comes close to the passion that is shared in rum. I’ve been very happy to learn of how female-led the rum industry is, especially in terms of distillers. This makes we want to be a part of this wonderful spirit category.

 

5. Favorite Drink + Recipe

When I visited El Salvador last year to meet the Jags Head coffee team, Andres introduced us to the way he and his friends drink rum. It’s become one of my favourite way to enjoy rum (although I sip rather than shoot!); Pour 50ml of rum into your favourite small glass, take a slice of orange and dip one side into fresh ground coffee and the other side into soft brown sugar. Take a sip of the rum and a bite of the orange.

 

6. Where do you see the rum industry today and in the next 5 years?

It seems to me there is a thirst for more knowledge and openess within the production of rum specifically. I think it’s an important step for the rum industry for producers to adhere to this, and become more open about what is inside the bottle they’re producing. For example, looking at the way the scotch whisky category works in respect to transparency, labelling and ageing, taking a similar approach with rum would lead to increased trust from consumers.

 

7. What do you think needs to happen to grow the premium category of rum?

Consumers are extremely well educated these days, and they have a curiosity about where the products come from that they are buying. I’m exactly the same! I think it’s very important for brands to be as transparent as they can be when it comes to production, environmental impact and brand story. The premium rum category has the opportunity to invite consumers into their world more and more. The wealth of knowledge that is available and that can be shared is huge. It is interesting to see the effect Covid-19 has had on sharing of brand insider stories that are normally reserved for industry only. Through Ron Colón, our focus is solely online during this period, meaning that all followers of the brand can access industry-directed content that wouldn’t necessarily be consumer-facing in normal times. I think this will help to show consumers the variety in different rums, connect them with the people behind the brands and the premium end of the category.

 

8. Which rum would you recommend a person that:

• Sipping a premium rum for the 1st time: Ron Colón Salvadoreño – a lovely introduction to a powerful rum flavour, with a blend of column and pot stilled rums.
• Likes Scotch Whisky – Mount Gay XO – the peat smoke expression rum.
• Likes Bourbon – Hampden Estate Rum, Single Traditional Pot Rum in collaboration with Velier – wonderful example of high-ester rum with lovely sweetness that a bourbon drinker may enjoy.
• Likes Gin or Vodka – Clairin Sajous 2018 Rum – so beautiful, I would recommend this to anyone!
• Likes Cognac – Smith and Cross, single traditional pot still.

 

9. Share some (2-3) of your mentors and how they have helped you.

Pepijn Janssens – First my colleague at Our/Vodka, now my good friend and partner at Ron Colon! I have been working with Pepijn for the past 3 years. It’s not always easy to keep up with him, he works at 100 miles an hour! However, I have learnt so much from him about the wider drinks industry, travelled the world and now have the opportunity to build a brand from scratch alongside him.

Cyan Wong – One of my closest friends, and probably more of a life coach then a work mentor. She has been working in the drinks industry for 15 years and is an amazing, humble spirit. She always reminds me to be calm and of my achievements when I cannot see them.

Ian Bayliss – Offered me my first job on the other side of the bar working with Belsazar Vermouth. Ian taught me so much about how to build brands in an organic way, the importance of quality and authenticity.

10. What 3-5 things do you have in your bucket list for the next 12 month?

– Leaving my house again!

– Launching Ron Colón in the US, a market that is completely new to me.

– Hiking – Getting outdoors again and enjoying the British countryside. I moved from Berlin back to the UK last year and I had forgotten how beautiful England is, so I plan to go exploring and enjoy it.

 

11. How can people learn more about you? Website? Social Media Page

You can find me here: https://www.instagram.com/Fliss_on_tour/

And stay in touch with us here https://www.instagram.com/roncolonsalvadoreno/

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Published by: TheRumLab.com
Author: Jose Hoffmann
Phone: +1 513-426-8813
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