Rum Hunting - Day Four - Bon Voyage!
After our super tour around the island, outside of the prescripted brand schedule, we met back at the hotel for our final activities of the day. First off was a trip to the Mount Gay visitor's center for a Black Barrel cocktail competition. We were paired up in groups of two (DOG and I together, of course) and had fifteen minutes to create a drink. David suggested doing a variation of a Trinidad Sour, but we didn't have orgeat so we muddled up cucumber with simple syrup instead, adding a ton of Angostura and some lime juice in as well. The drink destroyed everyone else's. We still lost. That's the problem with being from the West Coast. We're light years ahead of what people think they want when it comes to cocktail culture, but what can you do? Make a syrupy Daiquiri? I don't think so. And we wonder why people think we're smug? (Our drink was awesome, though).
Rather than take another cab to our final dinner of the trip, Mount Gay organized a sailboat to ferry us down the coast and dock at the beachfront destination. The boat was by far my favorite part of the trip because a few of us went up to the front, laid out on the helm, and just relaxed. No talking, no more booze jabber, or anything else. Just us and the sea.
Perhaps the most eye-opening part of this trip has been the contact with other national retailers who are also here selecting casks. Everyone has been incredibly nice and we've had a fantastic time together, but it's clear we don't see things the same way. Most of the other guys here are store owners, rather than employees. Actually, all of them are. Because David and I are separated from the finances and the paperwork, we don't worry about sales margins or maximizing profit as much as other stores do. We didn't get into this business to make money. We got into this business for fun because we wanted to follow our passion. However, we're here with guys who specialize in 1.75 liters of vodka and run case deals for Budweiser. It's not to say that they're not passionate, it's just that they're up for whatever pays the bills. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's just not the way we think about things. David and I talked about the whole Maker's Mark incident and we were the only ones who even knew what happened. When we explained it they thought we were lying and got mad – at us!!! How dare we criticize the brand was the mindset.
Sitting on that boat, however, as the sun went down just erased all of the tension and all of the booze politics. In all honesty, I don't give a shit if Mount Gay distills all their rum or not (we only have our intolerable scrutiny that leads us to believe otherwise, no actual evidence). I've yet to actually see the distillery, so I can't say anything for sure. What I do know is that I've tasted a lot of rum while on Barbados and a lot of it is delicious. Remy has chosen to host us here on Barbados for that reason. Mount Gay rum, like many brands that aren't single malt, isn't about a distillery really. It's about an island and a history of bottling great rum that pre-dates any other company. Mount Gay's tagline is actually "there's a time and a place." The time is right now and the place is Barbados – an island that loves its national spirit and celebrates it at every opportunity. I've been drinking a shit ton of Mount Gay rum since I've been here and it's all been outstanding. In tonic, in ginger beer, on the rocks, in a shot, in a beer, with a beer, after a beer, before a beer, whatever. One of the best rums in the world is being produced on this island – Barbados. It's got a Mount Gay label on it.
I've been a bit quieter this evening while the other guys continue on with the drinking and the brand loyalty. I'm not unloyal to Mount Gay, I'm just not going to be loyal to anyone because they're taking me around an island and providing me with a good time. I'm happy to be here because I really love Mount Gay rum and I'm excited to be bringing back two barrels for K&L customers. I wish there could have been more transparency, but that's what you're dealing with at the corporate level. It's all an image. David and I are by far the two least popular people at this point on the trip because we're not simply playing along. I don't think their ambassador Chester Browne likes me at all, but what I can I do?
In this case, the quality is there with Mount Gay, so I'm really just fine with our relationship to the company. There's nothing we can do about it anyway because asking questions is simply what we do. I love the rum, I'm here supporting it, I'm writing about it every day, and I'm going to be selling it because it's delicious and well-priced for our customers. I'll bet you that K&L ends up selling more of these Black Barrels than any other retailer in the U.S. because of our own transparency, so that should keep us in their good graces! I'm up at 5:30 AM tomorrow to catch my plane back to the mainland before a layover in Miami. Back at K&L this Friday. Signing out from Barbados.
-David Driscoll