For the past 15 years I’ve worked in the wine & spirits industry and before then technology. I really like the process of wine & spirits – from the primary ingredients all the way to a superb cocktail or a glass of whiskey. What I like most is that drinking, like eating, is so elementary but also complicated. Behind each spirit, there is the history, geography, the culture. Startups, innovation, and product development are the areas I’ve focused on for my whole career but I find the wine and spirits industry seems particularly interesting (yet challenging) due to the regulation and that it favors larger established brands.
One of my primary challenges is building an expert team of industry professionals at Spirits Consulting Group. As a team, we partner with distinctive brands to enter and expand in the competitive U.S. market. I created a unique approach that we use to mission critical services designed for sales and brand growth at the early stages. Today it’s 10 years in with SCG and we have an outstanding team! We’re creating profitable companies and launching distinctive products. Along the way, SCG has won product design awards and sales accolades. Don’t get me wrong: it is a lot of work but it´s been a lot of fun.
Well, I think of cane spirits overall- rum, Rhum, cachaça, rum Agricole- and I think my biggest accomplishment is encouraging people to think of rum seriously and not just as a cheap liquor that you pour into a sugary drink with a paper umbrella. When I was the North American Director for Sagatiba, the first premium Cachaça, I realized that very few people outside of Brazil knew about cachaça so I hired Jared Brown and Anastasia Miller to research and write a book about Cachaça so that people could learn about its history, its relationship to other cane-based spirits, production, etc. They went to Brazil and toured many distilleries, large and small and wrote “The Spirit of Brazil” a great book about the history and variety of Cachaça. I didn’t write the book but I’m pretty proud of making that happen.
Again, I’m thinking of cane spirits. So, I fell in love with Cachaça while I was living and working in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It all started with Caipirinhas shared with friends on gorgeous Brazilian beaches. Sure, some places make the Caipirinhas with too much sugar but usually, the Brazilians just use a lot of fresh limes (or other fruits) and ice and it’s wonderful. It’s a different type of buzz from anything else- really happy, light and fun. From there, I started trying and learning about aged Cachaças and those are amazing and complex. Because of this love, I decided to give rum another try and have been really enjoying aged rums.
Right now I see -and we are working on- several very interesting rum projects that I think will expand people’s perception of rum. People are enthusiastic and determined to move rum in the U.S. away from a very cheap spirit in a syrupy drink to a more sophisticated, nuanced spirit. I love that and want to be a part of it.
Caipirinha de Maracuja (passion fruit caipirinha) with little to no sugar.
You will see a lot of interesting new rums, more premium offerings eating away at some of the cheap rum as is happening in the gin category. I’m anticipating some interesting aged, spiced and even super-premium white rums coming on the market with extremely high-quality products. There are already several very interesting rums being produced by craft distilleries all over the U.S. and we will see that continue and expand.
It’s already happening. There are more premium rum products available and the consumer is curious and aged rums have the complexity of whiskey but at a better price point.
I’m going to put this back on the reader/consumer to head out to their favorite bar and/or liquor store and look at what rums they have to talk to the bartenders and start trying a variety of rums, understanding what is out there, how it is made, and what they like the best. I’m not copping out it’s just everyone has a different pallets and preferences and it’s more about the process of discovery. That said a new arrival that I really like am Ten to One.
One of my first bosses was super tough but she was always fair so she taught me the balance between caring and holding people accountable. I still work on these things today: fairness, caring for the people on the team while making sure we are each getting things done.
When I was working in technology, I had a boss/mentor who really led by clearly stating the goals and then getting out of the way. He let me get to the solution however worked best for me and would always be there if I got stuck, had questions or needed obstacles removed from an upper management perspective. I work to effectively emulate this approach because everyone has habits that make them more productive so it is better to focus on the result instead of micromanaging work hours and how someone approaches a task.
We have a beautiful gin in our sights and we want to add more whiskey to our portfolio of brands but they have to be the right ones. We’re pretty picky about who we will go to the market with. I’d also like to see a Cognac brand with authentic roots take the leap and develop a Cognac product that is more contemporary and interesting to younger drinkers without making it gimmicky. I understand the heritage but don’t let it box you in.
Many great types of rum are hard to find because the U.S. distribution system favors huge brands, so keep seeking them out and trying new ones
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