Top-Notch Rum Companies Led by Women
Let’s celebrate International Women’s Day by learning about some of the top women-owned rum brands. They have demonstrated how women are giving the spirits industry the much-needed perspective shift, despite the long history of male dominance in this sector.
Here are some of the top-notch rum companies led by female entrepreneurs.
Kasama Rum
Kasama was founded by Alexandra Dorda, resulting from a combination of family ties. Dorda’s father co-founded both Chopin Vodka and Belvedere. So, after years of working at the family business in Poland, she started to create her own path. Since its creation, the brand has intended to redefine the future generation of rum drinkers and spirits makers.
Kasama is a unique golden rum brewed from fresh sugarcane juice. This richly-flavored spirit offers hints of butterscotch followed by layers of tropical fruit. It has sweet pineapple, vanilla, and a dash of sea salt. The rum is distilled in the Philippines in small batches to produce a unique and flavorful distillate. Then, it is aged for seven years in ex-bourbon American oak barrels. Finally, the spirit is bottled at 40% ABV at the family’s distillery in Poland.
Montanya Distillers
Karen Hoskin founded Montanya Distillers in 2008. The company is located in Crested Butte, Colorado, and produces a wide range of rums, including Platino 1-Year Aged White Rum, Oro 1-Year Aged Dark Rum, Exclusiva 3-Year Aged Rum, and Valentia 4-Year Aged Rum.
Today, Hoskin ships rum to more than 40 states and 7 countries. Montanya Distillers has been recognized twice (2019 and 2021) as “Best for the World B Corp” due to its commitment to environmentally sustainable business practices and policies. It also supports innovative waste management programs in communities most affected by the indiscriminate dumping of plastic.
This authentic American rum produced in the heart of the Rocky Mountains is one of the world’s most exciting and forward-thinking spirits brands, with transparent, green certifications and an uncompromising, unparalleled, empowered female leader who is a trailblazer for women in the rum industry. Since 2008, the brand has earned 29 double gold, gold, and silver medals in international competitions.
Coconut Cartel
Coconut Cartel was founded in 2012 by the siblings Danielle and Mike Zighelboim, known as “The Zigs.” The rum is produced in Guatemala using local sugarcane. Then, it is aged in charred American white oak barrels for 4 to 12 years.
Serving boozy coconut cocktails to Miami’s rich and famous has helped the brand build a small empire. Those boozy coconuts became the inspiration for the creation of their premium rum. What makes this rum unique is that the company uses local coconut water to dilute the blend from cask strength to bottle strength.
Danielle Zighelboim is the brains behind the operations. Before reaching 30 years old, she grew our small coconut operation into an international spirits company. Mike, the company’s connector, has spent almost two decades exploring every inch of Guatemala and El Salvador.
Diablesse Rum
Diablesse Rum was launched by Cleo Farman, an entrepreneur from Manchester, England. This spirit is inspired by the legend of La Diablesse, “a female devil temptress” straight from Caribbean folklore.
The spirits are made using traditional pot and column methods with Demerara rum from Guyana’s famous Diamond Distillery. The catalog of expressions includes:
- Clementine Spiced Rum (40% ABV), made from a single origin, using locally produced sugarcane molasses. It has a natural flavor of clementine and a warm Caribbean spice mix of vanilla pod, ginger, cinnamon, and clove.
- Coconut & Hibiscus Rum (38% ABV) is the only one of its kind in the world, flavored with fresh coconut and floral hibiscus with notes of frangipane and maraschino cherries.
- Caribbean Golden Rum (40% ABV), blended with three different Caribbean rums, including the first and 8-year-old Barbados rum, Four Square Distillery.
Cleo found that the rum business was mostly run by men, so she saw a clear need in the market to make a rum that promotes female inclusivity. She works with a strong team of women to continue developing her brand. Diablesse is considered the first female-owned brand in the UK.
HH Bespoke Spirits & Beverages
Harlem Haberdashery Bespoke Spirits and Beverages was co-founded by Shay Wood, an entrepreneur who is now the company’s CEO. Their unique collection includes vodka, rum, gin, and alkaline water.
HH Bespoke Rum is a one-of-a-kind blend of aged rums that tastes like rums made in the 18th century. The spirit starts as Grade A molasses and is aged in new American oak and once-used Bourbon casks. The result is a rich and complex rum barrel with hints of butterscotch, vanilla, and other exotic notes that please the palate.
Wicked Dolphin Rum Distillery
In 2012, JoAnn Elardo founded the Wicked Dolphin Distillery in Cape Coral, Florida. Dolphin results from Elardo’s desire to create a good cocktail made from a good spirit created with local natural ingredients.
Elardo is a founding member of the Florida Distillers Guild. She has helped to bring a bill under review that allows craft distillers to sell their products on-premise. This rum distillery is considered the first legal distillery in Florida since America’s prohibition. Dolphin produces a variety of rums, all made from local sugarcane and distilled in small batches.
Oxbow Rum Distillery
Oxbow Rum Distillery was established by Olivia Stewart. The Oxbow Estate Rum catalog includes a white rum, barrel-aged rum, and a yearly sugarcane juice rum named Rhum Louisiane. The distillery also develops spiced rum under the brand False River.
Stewart has created a movement around Louisiana rum. Under her leadership, the brand has consolidated a strong identity and philosophy. She has promoted transparency in rum distilling, showcasing this by distilling her rum from sugarcane grown at her family’s estate, Alma Farm & Mills, without any additives.
Alma has been in her family since 1859. On this farm, they have been growing sugarcane and making sugar. From field to glass, sugarcane harvested at Alma is the primary ingredient in Oxbow rums. Oxbow makes a variety of rums, one of which Stewart is particularly fond of. It uses high-grade molasses from the first boiling. The rums are from one single estate, and the owners are involved in every step of the production process.
The Noble Experiment / Owney’s Rum
Owney’s opened in 2012 after its founder and head distiller, Bridget Firtle, was inspired by America’s rum-distilling history. Therefore, she decided to bring rum distilling back to New York City by founding The Noble Experiment.
Nowadays, Owney’s produces three rums, the Original, the Blend, and the Overproof. The Owney’s Original rum is the brand’s first rum entirely distilled in Brooklyn. Also, they distill the Overproof version of their signature rum. Besides, Owney’s Blend is made from a distinct combination of their Original, and Aged Rum, imported from the Dominican Republic and distilled from fresh sugarcane juice.
Lyon’s Rum
Lyon Rum is an American spirit produced by Windon Distilling in Maryland. Since 2012, the company has been working to redefine the category of American rum. Its CEO and founder, Jaime Windon, has helped revive the history of Maryland distilling. She works constantly to promote and grow the craft spirits industry.
The brand produces a flavored, hand-crafted rum with a strong character derived from raw sugar cane (100% Louisiana) and blackstrap molasses. The Lyon portfolio offers thirteen unique expressions that include light, seasonal, and aged spirits. Among them, we can highlight the dark rum and the coffee rum.
In 2020, the company ranked number one on the USA Today 10 Best Readers’ Choice Poll, becoming the “Best Craft Rum Distillery” of the year.
Striped Lion Distilling
Striped Lion Distilling is a small-batch, rum-centric craft distillery located in Woodbury, New Jersey, USA. It was founded by Erin (Chief Brand Officer) and Kevin Wright (Head Distiller), married rum enthusiasts whose interest in science and rum merged to conceptualize a craft distillery. The distillery is 100% black-owned and is also majority woman-owned.
They produce various expressions of rum and rum-based liqueurs, as well as have a tasting room where guests can enjoy experiencing their wares. Some of them are:
- Striped Lion Pot Still Rum, the brand’s signature unaged rum, which is fermented from molasses and 100% pot-distilled.
- Citrus Rum, vapor-distilled through citrus peels to add flavor naturally.
- Cocoa Rum, vapor-distilled through cocoa nibs.
- Cinnamon Rum, vapor-distill through cinnamon sticks.
- Rum Collector’s Reserve 2020, an aged blend of pot-distilled and column-distilled rums from four different countries (Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Panama, and the United States).
- Overproof Rum, bottled at 60% alcohol by volume.
Boston Harbor Distillery
Rhonda Kallman is the Founder and CEO of Boston Harbor Distillery. This is an innovative distillery that opened in 2012 and is housed in one of Boston’s oldest mill buildings. Currently, it produces a range of premium spirits, including traditional whiskeys, small-batch gin, rum, decadent liqueurs, and distilled Sam Adams beer.
Although statistics show that woman-owned brands still represent a very small percentage of the entire beverage market, they are bringing a unique perspective to the spirits industry. In the last few years, the women-owned category has grown steadily, with sales and the volume of brands and products available increasing.
