Spirited Union: The World’s First Botanical Rum Distillery

Nowadays, many distilleries are growing in innovation by taking a step forward to introduce a new approach to rum. Spirited Union Distillery is part of this trend that promotes sustainability efforts on botanical rum production, away from artificial aromas and sickly-sweet spirits.

In 2017, its founder, Ruben Maduro, opened the door to the world’s first botanical rum distillery in Amsterdam, Holland. Their mission is to create a union between botanicals and rum to offer new tastes beyond tradition. Such a union results in new bold and balanced products with vibrant and refreshing tastes.

In January, Sustainable Rum Summit presented “A botanical rum tale” Live Stream event with Ruben Maduro on Zavvy.co. The Spirited Union founder spoke about their all-natural approach to the production of this particular genuine spirit.

Their work mainly consists of re-distilling and infusing rums with real natural botanicals, using innovative and environmentally friendly methods. Also, they embrace diversity in the spirits industry by working closely with some of the finest distilleries around the world, and sourcing single-origin rums and botanicals from the best regions.

Flavor Innovation in “a Real Way”

The Spirited Union Distillery makes a variety of botanically infused rums with delicious tastes that can be enjoyed by everyone:

• Union Spice & Sea Salt: A smooth cask-aged Barbados Rum united with delicate flavors from Madagascan vanilla and cloves, Guatemalan cardamom, and Peruvian raw cacao. All combine with a pinch of organic Añana sea salt from Spain.
• Union Lemon & Leaf Rum: It is the second expression from the Spirited Union Rum range. It is an Agricole-style rum from Mauritius made with lemons grown along the Amalfi Coast.
• Queen Pineapple & Spice: A 2-3-years-old Panamanian Rum united with fresh Queen Victoria Pineapple and distilled with cassia wood and sweet spice.
• Sweet Orange & Ginger: Cask-aged Jamaican rum united with Zesty Valencia & Curaçao oranges, and infused with fiery ginger root for its Jamaican heat.
• Pink Grapefruit & Rose: A delicious African Rum united with blush pink grapefruit, blood orange, vapor distilled rose petals, and Elderflower blossom for floral aromas.
• Organic coconut: An organic Belizean rum united with toasted coconut flakes, organic coconut water, Peruvian raw cacao, and Madagascan vanilla.

Spirit of Sustainability

As a young distillery, Spirit Union is committed to making its supply chain as sustainable as possible, to ensure future generations can enjoy their rum. “Sustainability is a process that we gradually carry on to improve our value chain (…). Our pledge to the planet for the next five years is to dive deep into our value chain, looking at how we produced rum based on our sustainable goals”, Rube Maduro pointed out.

Furthermore, to accomplish the sustainable goals they are working in a solar-powered distillery, where they make efforts to minimize single-use plastic, as long as they continue making alliances with sustainable partners. Thanks to their strong partnerships, Spirited Union Botanical Rum is distributed in 13 international markets. Likewise, bars and restaurants around the world have started to include the brand on their menus.

Additionally, details are an essential part of their job. This is what makes the difference between something good and something great.

“[In the rum industry], your product needs to taste great and looks great, and it is important to have the right people working with you, who care about the product and how it is made”.

Ruben Maduro

Spirited Union, an “Open-Door” Distillery

For rum, spirits, and cocktails lovers Spirit Union Distillery offers a unique opportunity to have a behind the scene look at their work and discover how spirits are made. They can also take part in the production of personalized bottles.

On this matter, Ruben Maduro said, “When we open the distillery we want to be completely transparent about how we produce spirits and make people be part of the story. So, we have this open-door mindset, promoting a kind of education by teaching people how rum is made, how it tastes and what they can do with it”.

Currently, they offer workshops, guided distillery tours, learning by doing activities, among many other interactive experiences, following biosecurity protocols.

To sum up, keeping through to the “in union there is strength” motto, this year Spirited Union Distillery celebrates 4 years of combining textures and tastes to create something exciting and memorable: a new world for rum.

To learn more about sustainable business practices in the rum category you can visit Zavvy.co and explore the Live Streams events where industry professionals from all over the world participate.