Rum’s New Targets
Some
of my fondest earliest experiences as an entry level
drinker, many decades ago, centered on a broad variety of
rum cocktails – from Frozen Daquiris and Zombies to a
fabulous concoction that my late, great rum-loving father
created with an antique shaker. Just watching my Dad’s
ceremonious preparations was a treat. I remember the
elaborate mojito-like cocktail included egg whites, a sugar
cube, muddled mint, a blend of different dark and light
rums, some fresh-squeezed lime juice and several other
ingredients. And he may have added a little 151-proof float
just to top it off. Altogether, it was a true production. He
called it a ‘September Morn’. And, brother, was it ever a
genuine wake-up call for anyone who happened to be drinking
it with him.
But, when I was
putting together a rum report back in the mid-‘9Os, somehow
I found it largely missing any of this kind of charm or
personality, or this degree of fascination and
fun.
It seemed that
its virtues were being overlooked and undermarketed, its
volume sales were largely flat, the category lacked any real
excitement, and consumer interest was being captivated
elsewhere by sophisticated single malt scotches,
super-premium and ultra-premium American straight whiskies,
the booming tequila market, the world of wine, and,
especially, the prodigious explosion in vodkas.
However, rum has
been making a bigtime comeback of late. After several years
away from the subject, I’m revisiting the rum world with
fresh eyes, and seeing some dramatically encouraging
developments. Today, rum is the #2 spirits category in
America and enjoying a whole new renaissance of
unprecedented popularity. To begin with, just look at the
robust growth rates. In the past seven years, rum’s total
volume sales in the US have been climbing steadily from what
was slightly over 14 million 9-liter cases in 1998 to more
than 2O million cases at the end of 2OO4. You look over
performance charts and see healthy growth performances among
a broad spectrum of leading premium and popular-priced
brands like Bacardi USA’s many diversified Bacardi brand
labels and old standard Ron Castillo, Diageo’s trend-setting
Captain Morgan Original Spiced and the Captain Morgan Parrot
Bay flavored rum portfolio, Allied Domecq’s Malibu,
Todhunter’s Cruzan and above-premium Ron Carlos, Remy
Amerique’s Mt. Gay, Brown-Forman’s Appleton, Constellation
Brands’ Barton’s, Skol and Mr. Boston, among a great many
others.
Also noticeable
on the charts today are many new or little-known products
which have been catching attention in the marketplace,
several of them being super-premium-level brands for which
the rum category has never really been particularly noted
previously. Not that there hasn’t been plenty of high-end
product potential out there, as more and more suppliers have
begun to realize. Several rum company executives will even
tell you that the time is fast approaching when this
above-premium segment of the category will finally be
getting the industry play and appreciative consumer response
that higher-priced super-premium entries are already
enjoying in most other distilled spirits
categories.
Meanwhile, the
big rum news of the past few years is all about new premiums
and flavored line extensions that seem to be popping up in
various brand portfolios with the speed of summer mushrooms.
For instance, here’s Malibu, the coconut-flavored rum,
that’s been growing ever since being acquired by Allied
Domecq in 2OO2. It’s currently the #4 leading rum brand in
the US. Early last year it added a mango and pineapple
flavor to its brand lineup and is posting a volume of over
one million case sales. And here’s Diageo’s #2
category-leading Captain Morgan, with the mischievous,
swashbuckling party-animal Caribbean pirate as its icon. The
brand was the original pioneer of the spiced rum movement
back in 1985. It has now also introduced the two new flavors
of pineapple and mango via its Captain Morgan Parrot Bay
line last year. And, including these Parrot Bay flavors, the
brand is now well up above the four million volume case-sale
plateau, commanding nearly 25% of the US market, as well as
“pirating the airwaves” as the biggest ad-spender in the rum
category.
About Captain
Morgan’s ongoing success, I solicited Diageo’s Group Brand
Director, Hernando Ruiz-Jimenez, for some comments on his
brand’s exemplary state of health. “Captain Morgan,” he
says, “continues to deliver year on year double-digit
depletions growth backed by proven growth drivers such as
creative consumer advertising, consistent on-premise
activation, as well as bringing the brand’s rum icon to life
via experiential marketing.”
“The rum
category is truly one of the last vestiges of development
within the spirits industry,” Hernando concludes with
unbridled optimism, “and Diageo, with its diverse rum
portfolio, is perfectly poised to lead the continued growth
and maturation of this segment. With the fourth largest
spirit in the US, Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum, along
with Captain Morgan’s Parrot Bay flavored rum variants, will
continue to fuel the flavored rum segment. And, in addition
to these flagship rum brands, Diageo’s complete US rum
portfolio also includes above-premium alternatives like
Myer’s, Pampero and Cacique.”
New rum flavors
are also the major marketing focus for giant Bacardi USA,
who leads the category in this department. They were the
first to create a flavored rum sensation with their Bacardi
Limon 1O years ago. Then along came orange-flavored Bacardi
O a few years later. Bacardi Razz, Vanila and Coco appeared
in early 2OO3. And, just this March, the company is
introducing yet another flavor, its sixth, called Bacardi
Big Apple, which company marketers feel confident will
persuade a lot of entry level consumers to stop thinking
about all those immensely popular badge-value, vodka-based
appletinis they’ve been drinking for several years, and will
start putting a Bacardi Big Apple rum drink in that
triangular glass instead.
For a summary of
where Bacardi sees itself today, I contacted Bacardi USA
President Eduardo Sardina, asking him about Bacardi’s
continuing leadership with rum and its extensive and
expanding rum portfolio. “We are excited because the rum
category continues to grow as do the opportunities,”
observes Eduardo. “This new generation of consumers – the
echo-boomers – want cocktails that are mixable, easy to make
and fun to drink. Bacardi and Cola continues to be the
number one cocktail in the world, while Bacardi Mojitos are
one of the hottest new trends in the spirits business. We
have a large portfolio of traditional and flavored rums that
make great cocktails. Because of consumer demands and trends
we developed a successful line of Bacardi flavored
rums.”
Where does he
see Bacardi brands heading? “We are excited about the
future,” he says, “because the rum category is one of the
fastest growing segments in the US spirits industry today.
Our signature Bacardi Superior brand continues as a category
leader because of consumer’s demand for this mixable,
approachable spirit. More consumers are also recognizing how
it fits into a healthy lifestyle, in that there are no carbs
and no sugars in a standard Bacardi and Diet Cola cocktail.
Also, flavors have been driving a lot of interest in the rum
category as consumers like the options they present. And
it’s only a matter of time before super-premium rums take
hold, just as we’ve seen the trend to super-premiums in
vodka, scotch and tequila. Our Bacardi Eight is a fine
example. It’s a highly crafted, eight-year-old aged rum that
appeals to consumers’ “trading up” habits and their growing
desire for connoisseurship and luxury brands in the rum
category.”
I ask him for a
few thoughts about Bacardi USA’s recent news-making brand
acquisitions – like the blockbuster two billion dollar deal
for Grey Goose vodka last spring – and what he sees ahead
for his spirits company. “Bacardi is committed to the
spirits industry from a long term perspective, and we are
actively seeking to grow,” Eduardo declares. “So far, we’ve
had success in all growth areas, be it organic, acquisitions
or new product developments. We nurture the organic growth
of our brands. Our parent company, Bacardi Limited, is daily
looking for opportunities to expand strategically our
portfolio and the growth of our premium portfolio. And we
invest strongly behind new product development and its
execution through advertising and promotion. We are noted
for a strong network of distributors and retailers and are
recognized for our marketing prowess. All this has led
Bacardi USA to realize record performances
today.”
To get a more
informal and detailed analysis about present day category
dynamics and brand management, I turned to other Bacardi
executives, to look more closely at today’s consumer trends,
product developments and emerging US rum markets. Bacardi
seemed the logical choice for this kind of examination.
After all, what better source can you turn to than the
leading rum supplier which has the largest portfolio of
representative rum brands in the US marketplace, the longest
exposure to American consumers of several generations, and
perhaps the most intimate long-term relationships with
distributors and retailers throughout the US? So, what
follows are some of the collective insights from, first,
Bacardi’s John Gomez, and also Bacardi’s Regional Manager
here in Massachusetts, Jim Whelan, to bring it all close to
home.
JOHN
GOMEZ
VICE
PRESIDENT
TRADITIONAL RUM GROUP MARKETING DIRECTOR
BACARDI USA
ROBERT
BRADFORD What do
you find particularly signficant about developments in the
rum category in the past few years?
JOHN
GOMEZ When you take
a look at the last 12 months or so, up to last September,
you see how the entire rum category has been growing at a
phenomenal rate. DISCUS data gives us an idea what different
categories and competitors are doing. Rum is the fastest
growing category, up something like 6.4%. It’s now second
only in size to vodka. No doubt that vodka’s still huge, but
when you ask yourself why this recent surging popularity for
rum, you have to go back to a couple of things. One is
looking at what rum is all about.
First, it’s a
distilled spirit that’s highly mixable. It lends itself to
easy-to-make, good-tasting drinks. Young adult consumers are
increasingly less disposed to going through the “acquired
taste” process. They’re looking for instant gratification,
which has become part of the culture we’re all living in.
Everything today is instant, whether it’s the internet or
immediate cellphone contact, videogames, you name it.
Whatever it is, people have become accustomed to getting it
right away. And this also applies to taste in what they’re
drinking. These are people who were weaned on things like
Coca-Cola and have a sweet tooth going in. Rum’s warm and
approachable natural taste and versatile mixability is
ideally suited to all this.
Maybe even more
important is that the image of rum is a whole lot of fun.
There’s nothing pretentious going on here. I think you find
vodka is a little bit colder, a little bit more about
posing, whereas rum is all about fun and social interacting.
Not that vodka hasn’t been a leader in driving this
so-called “cocktail nation” that’s out there. But rum is
playing a very big role in all this, as well, and
particularly making major strides forward with these new
flavored rum products.
RB
Are new consumer audiences having a major impact?
JG
Very much so. One of the things you have to look at is the
demographics. There’s this whole phenomenon that’s called
the Echo-boom Generation. Another marketing name for it is
“Generation Y”. These are the off-spring of the Baby Boomers
of the ‘6Os and ‘7Os. And one of the things we’ve learned is
that the more 21-year-olds you have in the population,
there’s a direct correlation to spirits consumption. It’s
interesting to note that when the spirits industry really
started to grow, after a couple decades of decline, its
first year of growth was 1997. And when we take a look at
when the first echo-boomer turned 21 – guess what? The year
was also just about 1997. So, there’s a direct connection
with this new wave of drinkers, as more and more
echo-boomers come into the marketplace. The figure
projections are pretty staggering.
And when you
think about these young adult drinkers, guess what they like
to drink? They’re looking for mixable, fun drinks, and rum
fits the bill perfectly. Furthermore, although we have
little doubt that vodka will continue to do well, because
it, too, is also very mixable, we suspect that our edge is
the fact that we have a category that’s fundamentally more
fun and approachable.
RB
I know that your traditional signature Bacardi rums,
particularly Superior light, are the big engines that drive
the enormous Bacardi freight train and have always done
phenominally well. But how successfully have all these new
flavors been fitting into the brand portfolio?
JG
Recently, flavors have been a key in driving the business,
and our Bacardi flavors have done extremely well. Basically,
what they’ve been able to accomplish is to create a bridge
between rum and vodka, bringing some of the sophistication
of vodka, while still preserving the approachability of rum.
It give consumers just another way of consuming rum beyond
the traditional ways with coke or in frozen drinks. So it’s
expanded the reach of the category.
RB
Has there been much in the way of cannibalization of your
enormous traditional rum consumer base by the advent of new
flavors?
JG
Not at all. What’s been really great is seeing how Bacardi
traditional rums have continued to grow consistently since
1997, when I began working the brand. While the flavored
rums have been growing aggressively, Bacardi Superior
continues to be not only the largest rum brand but is also
the largest spirit brand in both the US and the world. We
call it the democratic brand, because it appeals to
everyone, male or female, young or old, or, from an ethnic
market standpoint, whether it’s white, African-American or
Hispanic. We also have strong markets in all parts of the
country. So, our brand appeal is pretty
universal.
Anywhere you
want to go in America, Bacardi and Coke is the most popular
Bacardi drink, by far, and continues to do well. Also,
recently, we’ve been promoting Bacardi and Diet Coke in an
attempt to leverage the low-carb craze. A lot of people
don’t realize that Bacardi rum has zero carbs and zero
sugar. But how can that be, some people wonder? Isn’t rum
made from sugar cane? Yes, it is, but what isn’t well
understood is that, through the distillation process, those
natural sugars are converted into alcohol, and so Bacardi is
not a sugary sweet product unto itself. Any real sweetness
comes from what you mix it with.
Our Bacardi and
Diet initiatives have been extremely effective for us, and
have proven extremely relevant to a great many consumers. It
also doesn’t take anything away from the flavor of the
original rum drink character. One of the problems with all
these low-carb products, which have been introduced and have
died, is that they just don’t taste good. But a great thing
about Bacardi and Diet is that it maintains a full taste and
it’s also available anywhere. All to say, it’s been a huge
part of what’s been driving our recent success.
RB
What other new rum consumption trends are out there?
JG
The hottest new rum drink trend, by far, has to be the
Mojito cocktail – it just continues to grow and grow, and
you see it mentioned in TV shows and movies. It used to be
sort of a New York-Miami drink, but now it’s everywhere in
national accounts and has been moving prominently into the
on-premise mainstream. It has really provided the whole rum
category a more sophisticated image, and has become sort of
rum’s version of a martini.
RB
What goes into a Mojito, exactly?
JG
It’s one of the classic Cuban cocktails and something like a
mint julep. Basically, you muddle lime, mint leaves, and a
little simple syrup altogether, bringing out the lime oils
and the mints oils. Then pour in Bacardi rum, add ice and a
little club soda. It’s a little bit like a classic Brazilian
rum drink that’s also gaining popularity, called a
Caipirinha, which doesn’t include any mint. It’s an
exceptionally refreshing cocktail and has become an “in”
drink in many upscale establishments. Significantly, in the
latest James Bond movie that supposedly takes place in Cuba,
here’s OO7 in a bar ordering a Mojito, instead of one of his
“shaken, not stirred” signature martinis. People are now
calling for it all the time, and it’s had a huge impact on
Bacardi’s business and the whole rum category.
RB
Aside from the new flavored rums, what does your complete
traditional Bacardi brand lineup include, today, and what
are the approximate price points and volume sales
figures?
JG
Our original signature light rum, now called Bacardi
Superior, continues to be the brand’s huge work horse. We
also have Bacardi Gold and Bacardi Select, which is our dark
rum that’s been taking some share away from the Myer’s black
rum segment. Until about five years ago, Bacardi Select was
always called Bacardi Black. The decision for the name
change to Select was partly to distinguish it when we
introduced our aged super-premium Bacardi 8. Select has been
doing extremely well for us, right now, and is line-priced
with Superior and Goldatapproximately $1O.99 to $11.99 for
a 75Oml. Our Bacardi 151 rounds out the last of the Bacardi
traditional lineup. It’s been around forever, and is
primarily used as a topper for all those exotic drinks. And,
with its higher alcohol level, the pricing would be more
like $14.99 to $16.99.
RB
What do the current volume sales numbers look like for the
US market?
JG
Sales of our traditional product lineup are now up around
the 7 million case-range, which does not include the
flavors. When you plug in flavor sales, you’re looking at
upwards of 8 million cases. We’re definitely at the highest
volume level that Bacardi rum has ever known, and continue
to maintain a dominant category leadership. And, as I
mentioned, with all this 21- to 29-year-old drinking
audience that’s emerging, we’re particularly trying to
establish brand relevance and keep focus on our products,
because this new big wave of young adult drinkers represents
our future.
Something that
is sometimes overlooked about Bacardi is that there’s no
company that invests behind its brands more than we do.
Whether it’s in promotional materials, merchandising
programs or advertising, no company is more aggressive in
these areas. For instance, right now, we’re one of the
leading advertisers on TV, as this new dimension keeps
opening up. And this is something that is exceedingly
important for the wholesale and retail tiers of this
industry to keep in mind, because it has such a positive
impact on their own bottom line.
Distilled
spirits are really like fashion accessories to this young
drinking audience, and you need to provide an immediate and
relevant promotional image. When you buy a car or a pair of
jeans, you’re making a statement about yourself. Likewise,
when you call for a brand in a bar, you’re also making a
statement. It’s called “badge value”. So, one of the things
we try hardest to achieve is brand identity in the fastest
possible way. The main advertising vehicle used to be print,
but that takes a long time. TV is a more immediate process
and gets back to that point about the importance of instant
gratification for this echo-boomer audience I was talking
about earlier.
RB
A key point one keeps hearing about the success of Bacardi
over the years is the training and experience of all the
people out there working the brands in different markets.
What can you tell me about this Bacardi network today?
JG
This is a huge key to what we’ve been able to accomplish.
One of the biggest assets that Bacardi has going for it in
the marketplace is, indeed, the quality of our sales force
network. This is a relationship-based business, and we have
an excellent long-standing reputation with both distributors
and retailers as being pro-active and supportive. There’s
still that family culture the Bacardi company has which kind
of sets us apart, and it permeates into everything we do
with all our sales force relationships. But it’s a rare
commodity in today’s business world. You just don’t find it
in a lot of these big companies. Things like company values
are hard to replicate. It’s relatively easy to copy a
product, but it’s extremely difficult to copy a corporate
culture.
RB
Bacardi USA has emerged as a major spirits industry player,
in categories quite apart from your leading rum position.
What are your thoughts about company development and
opportunities in the near future?
JG
I think all this porfolio diversification is evidence of the
real long term dedication this company has and the owners
feel for this business and the industry. And it’s not just
the acquisition of great brands like Dewar’s, Bombay and
Bombay Sapphire, Cazadores in the tequila category, and now
Grey Goose vodka. The real added value is the way we’ve been
able to grow them. We seem to have a knack for taking
acquisitions to new levels. And, again, I think it all comes
back to how we relate to the marketplace, because we simply
couldn’t do any of this without the great sense of
cooperation we’ve been fortunate enough to establish with
our distributor partners and in the retail sector. At the
end of the day, there’s nothing like strengthening
partnerships and accelerating product growth for building
trust and credibility in the marketplace.
Another
promising thing about our developing company portfolio,
beyond Bacardi rums, is that it’s heavily weighted in white
spirit and flavored products. It’s yet another reason to be
excited about our future opportunities out there. Senior
management of this company has done a fantastic job in terms
of acquiring brands and giving us the means to expand our
business, not only in the US, but internationally. All I can
say is that, if you’re with Bacardi USA, it’s a great time
to be in the spirits business.
JIM
WHELAN
MASSACHUSETTS
REGIONAL MANAGER
BACARDI USA
ROBERT
BRADFORD What has
Bacardi been doing to develop the brand in your territory
the past couple of years?
JIM
WHELAN A year ago,
of course, we introduced the three new flavors. Originally,
we’ve had Bacardi Limon out there in our markets for nearly
a decade. Around 1998, the company introduced Bacardi O.
And, in 2OO3, we came out with Vanilla, Razz and Coco. Razz
is particularly strong in the Northeast. It’s already become
our #2 flavor here in Massachusetts, right now, in just over
a year. I think the big point about our introduction of
flavors is that we didn’t take market share away from those
consumers drinking traditional Bacardi light and gold rum
products or cola drinks or frozen Bacardi cocktails.
Instead, what we’re finding is that our rum flavors have
been bringing over flavored vodka drinkers. So, we’re not
cannibalizing our rum market at all. It’s flavors that have
been bringing new people into the category.
RB
Who do you see consuming these products?
JW
It’s difficult to define a specific consumer audience for
our traditional Bacardi light and gold rums, because so many
people and age groups drink them. But our flavors put
special focus on the entry level consumer segment which
everyone is trying to attract today. And there are millions
and millions of them who are turning legal drinking age in
the next decade. So, most of today’s advertising is directed
to the entry-level consumer. The new low-carb craze is a
major new opportunity with this audience. So, a Bacardi and
Diet call has become popular with many of these young
consumers who pay close attention to healthy lifestyles,
what they eat and what they consume in alcoholic
beverages.
Women make up a
strong consumer segment for our flavors. These are
professional, educated women, anywhere from 21 to 35.
They’re really tuned in to a “flavorific world”, to use one
of Horizon Beverage’s Bobby Epstein’s favorite descriptive
phrases. Our different rum flavors can cater to a whole lot
of niches, and there are so many ways to consume these
different five brands.
You look at the
on-premise action in the Boston area and see bartenders
doing all kinds of stuff with them. For example, with
Bacardi Limon, O, or Razz, they’re serving it with Sprite or
with tonic, and they’re using it for Cosmopolitans. Bacardi
Vanila is often mixed with ginger. And Coco is simply
outstanding with pineapple juice. New trends with ethnic
drinks have been developing tremendous popularity, too, like
the Mojito, in particular. It’s become very much of an “in”
drink in many national markets and large Hispanic consumer
strongholds like California, Florida, Chicago, and Texas.
Here in Massachusetts, too, we have a significant population
of Caribbean Hispanics that’s been growing dramatically in
recent years and represents a strong developing rum consumer
base. However, with the new rum flavors, you’re also seeing
a lot of Bacardi Limon mojitos, Bacardi Razz mojitos. It
makes this an unusually exciting time for the rum
category.
RB
I’d also have to think it’s an exceptionally exciting time
for Bacardi as a spirits company, quite apart from rum
developments, in the last few years. You’ve developed from
the world’s leading rum producer, with the world’s
best-selling spirits brand for the last 25 years, to become,
recently and rapidly, one of the most enviably well-balanced
spirits portfolios in the entire industry. The fact is,
today, you seem to have a leading brand in just about every
major category. When did you see this evolution really
starting?
JW
I’d have to say that 1992 was the true beginning, when we
picked up Martini & Rossi brands. This gave us the
world’s best-selling vermouth, and a couple of major wine
and cordials brands, including Benedictine. It also gave us
some distinctive cognacs like Otard and Gaston. These are
not necessarily big in the states, but they all have
considerable significance worldwide. In 1998, we picked up
Dewar’s, and later created the Dewar’s 12-year-old, and most
recently have produced a very limited Dewar’s Signature
brand, which is comparable to a Johnnie Walker Blue pedigree
in aged single malt components. The backbone single malt is
Aberfeldy from the Grampian mountain Highlands region, and
some of the whisky inthe blend is 27-years-old. We later
acquired the Bombay and Bombay Sapphire gin brands, and,
most recently, the celebrated acquisition of Sidney Frank’s
Grey Goose vodka just last year. And, in between, we’ve
picked up Cazadoras tequila, which is a super premium in
that highly mobile category.
And if you look
at what we’ve been able to do with these brands, I believe
that Bombay has now overtaken Beefeater’s as the #2 gin in
the US, second only to Tanqueray. Dewar’s continues to be
the #1 brand of scotch in the United States, and also here
in Massachusetts, ahead of Johnnie Walker Red. What more can
I tell you? To sum it up from my viewpoint, I think what
Bacardi’s trying to do is be a player with a dominant brand
in each of the major categories. We’re in great shape with
rum, great shape with scotch, great shape with gin. Our
recent super-premiums, like Cazadoras tequila and Grey Goose
vodka, present enormous upside opportunities to face the
competition. I feel pretty good about the company’s
direction and our successful integration of these brands
we’ve acquired. We’ve been able to take and grow them. We’ve
also been able to launch new brand successes at the same
time.
RB
For years, of course, Bacardi has also had a successful line
of mixer products. Are these still doing well for you?
JW
Our non-alcoholic Bacardi Frozen Mixers is actually a
partnership with Minute Maid, and we as sales people aren’t
really directly involved. Also, our branded non-alcoholic
Bacardi bottled mixers like Pina Colada, Daiquiri and
Margarita, are also handled by the Minute Maid company. But
they all continue to do a good business.
But, in addition
to these non-alcoholic mixers, two years ago, in March 2OO3,
our company introduced a line of pre-mixed, ready-to-serve
cocktails called Bacardi’s Party Drinks. And this is
something I’m really concentrating on right now. We started
with the three flavors of Bahama Mama, Rum Island Ice Tea
and Hurricane, which has a distinctive blue color and has
done exceptionally well. Then, a year ago, in March 2OO4, we
added The Zombie to this lineup. And, in April 2OO5, there’s
a fifth Bacardi Party Drink coming to market called Rum
Runner, which is a pre-mixed version of the classic tropical
cocktail of the same name that has a bunch of different
liqueurs in it.
The whole idea
behind the Party Drinks is that they are all fantastic rum
cocktails that you normally would only get when you’re out
in a bar establishment. They are prepared to recipe by
on-premise professionals who have the expertise and
ingredients to make them successfully. So, these pre-mixed
Party Drinks enable a consumer to take these great
on-premise cocktails home with them, and serve these drinks
just as if they’d been orderedata bar. The rum’s already
in there. You don’t have to go out and buy all the different
other stuff for the drink. Everything’s pre-made and
ready-to-go like an instant cocktail.
Getting back to
our line of rum flavors, this month we’re introducing Big
Apple Rum. Bacardi’s marketing people have done all the due
diligence about what our next flavor should be and apple
scored particularly well with our test panel.
RB
Just for the record, could you clarify for me the current
nomenclature and usage suggestions for the different Bacardi
rum brand labels in your portfolio? There have been quite a
few recent name changes, as well as new product
introductions, and it can get a little bit confusing about
which brands are the same, which are new, and in what ways
they’re supposed to be consumed.
JW
Bacardi’s familiar standard light rum is now called Bacardi
Superior. We still have amber-colored Bacardi Gold. Darker
rums are typically used for some of the frozen drinks as a
topper or float – this might be Bacardi Select, we used to
call Bacardi Black. It’s got more of that molasses character
and is perhaps the most flavorful rum we have. You’ll find
it competing against a product like Myer’s. And there’s
Bacardi 8, a real gem of a product that starts getting into
the true super-premium rum segment. It’s a blend of aged
rums, all of which have to be 8 years or older. We make it
in the Bahamas and it’s aged in small oak casks. The beauty
of this brand is that when you age products in Scotland –
where it’s cold and damp – the aging process doesn’t go so
fast. But in a warm climate like the Bahamas, the aging
takes place significantly faster. And because there’s more
rum in contact with the wood, and because we use smaller
barrels, we get a lot more flavor from the wood that one
expects in a carefully-aged spirit. This product has an
absolutely spectacular super-premium taste. You can drink it
on the rocks or even savor it in a snifter. It’s far and
away my personal favorite rum experience.
RB
How would you summarize your outlook for the rum
category?
JW
A year or two ago, when were were looking at spirits
categories, there were only really two categories that were
growing. One was vodka and the other was rum. In general,
brown spirits have been declining. Tequila had been slowing
down a bit, but has been making a little comeback,
particularly with some of the high-end products. But, for
the most part, it’s been the vodkas and the rums that have
been the traditional clear spirits with strong growth
performances. And between these two categories, flavored
rums are proving exceptionally appealing to younger entry
level consumers.
Plain vodka, by
it’s own description, is flavorless, colorless, odorless,
and somewhat harsh and alcoholly for a lot of younger
drinkers. But rum, unto itself, has a genuinely approachable
taste which complements any flavor it’s partnered with. And
while it’s true we’re still living in the era of
unprecendented martini and cosmopolitan popularity among our
young professional, male and female, consumer audiences,
which has been driving the vodka category for several years,
it’s also true that anything today can be put into that
triangular martini and cosmo glass.
I can only tell
you that flavored rums make an outstanding cosmopolitan.
I’ll almost guarantee that if you put a flavored rum cosmo,
made with Bacardi Limon, O or Razz, up against a flavored
vodka cosmo, side-by-side, the flavored rum version is going
to come out ahead every time. These rums are all colorless
in the bottle, of course. But add a splash of cranberry or
blue curacao in there, and your cocktail takes on a
wonderful pink or light blue color, which is also so
important to today’s younger consumers. Much of a drink’s
appeal is all about appearance, so many of them are actually
tasting with their eyes. So, what do I see up ahead for rum?
A huge new consumer base, more retailer shelf space, and a
lot of upturned arrows.
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