Exclusive Interview with Mr. Victor Olshansky, Founder and CEO of Florida Rum Company

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Q: Please state your full name, title, company name and company location.

Victor Olshansky, Founder and CEO of Florida Rum Company, Hollywood, Florida.

Q: How did you get involved in the alcohol beverage business and what made you decide to produce rum over other spirits?

Although rum has been my go to spirit since I was old enough to drink, my interest in the business initially began with craft beer. I’ve enjoyed the wide range of flavors and expressions that craft beer has brought to the beverage alcohol industry over the past 20-some years and have wondered for some time if craft spirits could achieve the same prominence. As I studied the industry further and learned more about the distillation process, I came to the realization that Florida is an ideal spot to produce rum. Some of the key factors that led me to this decision are access to locally-grown sugarcane, historic traditions, a tropical climate that favors an accelerated maturation, and South Florida’s position as the largest market for rum consumption in the U.S.

Q: As a start-up company, I’m sure you faced many challenges and had to do a lot of research and learning about the industry prior to bottling your first rum. What are some of the challenges you faced and what were some of things you did to learn more about the industry?

Unlike some other spirits start-ups, my partners and I came into the world of spirits with little industry experience, so there has been a lot to learn. We did bring with us a range of experience from other regulated industries but realized from the beginning that we needed to partner with some industry veterans if we were going to build and sustain a successful brand. We also decided early on that we wanted to focus on the brand first and the distillery second. We were fortunate to find a good initial partner in South Florida Distillers, Inc., which has enabled us to be very hands-on in the distillation process without having to build our own distillery upfront. We also enrolled two of our senior personnel in Luis Ayala’s Rum University program to get some additional training in rum production.

Q: What rums are you currently producing?

We are currently producing two rums which are specifically targeted to the South Florida market:

  • Our Zíami Platinum Florida Craft Rum is a bourbon barrel aged white rum at 40% ABV. We wanted to produce a high-end mixing rum with a fairly neutral yet aromatic character, so we distilled it from Florida molasses and then matured it in American oak bourbon barrels. To achieve the “Platinum” character of the rum, we took the rum through an activated carbon filtration prior to bottling to remove the barrel color but retain as much flavor as possible.
  • Our Zíami Ruby Rush is a pink grapefruit flavored rum at 35% ABV. Also distilled from Florida molasses, this lightly sweetened rum is flavored with a natural pink grapefruit extract. To achieve a full-sensory experience, we wanted this rum to have not only the aroma and flavor of fresh Florida grapefruit but the appearance as well, so we added a natural, vegetable-based color to give a subtle pink hue.

Q: What was the inspiration for the name “Zíami”, what is its meaning or story?

Zíami is intended to capture the spirit, character, and style of Miami – from A to Z – in a bottle.

Q: Where are your rums currently distributed? Where will you be distributing next?

Our rums first became available for purchase in January 2018, so we are a very young brand. Wholesale distribution is currently limited to South Florida, although some of our retail partners can deliver out of state. We have already achieved a strong penetration into the Miami on-premise market and hope to expand to the Northeast states in 2019.

Q: A lot of international rum brands have corporate presence in Florida, due to the amount of rum consumed in the state. Do you see this as a challenge or as an opportunity?

We prefer to see this as an opportunity. Although Miami is an extremely competitive and highly concentrated market, we see it as the perfect spot to carve out a niche for a local rum brand. We may not be able to compete as effectively with some of the established, solera style sipping rums, but we see an opportunity to build a more contemporary mixing rum with a local character that appeals to Miami’s thriving mixology scene.

Q: Do you offer tours of your distillery, as well as tastings?

We cannot of fer tours at this time because we do not own our own distillery. However, we have started the initial planning process for building a distillery in 2019. You can follow us on social media for updates on this project.

Q: What is the best way for people or companies to reach you?

We have been focusing a lot of our public relations efforts on Facebook and Instagram (@ziamirum or #ziamirum). We encourage readers interested in our brand to follow us on those platforms or visit our website at ZiamiRum.com. We’ve been conducting frequent tastings and events at a number of establishments around South Florida, and I try to attend most of them myself. We keep our Facebook page updated with a list of upcoming events and will be adding a calendar feature to our website shortly. Anyone interested in learning more about our brand is welcome to email me personally at victor@ziamirum.com.

Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

We are thrilled to be entering the spirits industry at such a creative time period. We’re really excited about all the opportunities in the rum segment and are anxious to start building up our aging stock so that we can expand our product offerings in the future.

Thanks to Got Rum? for taking an interest in our brand and interviewing us for this article. We hope your readers have an opportunity to try our rum the next time they are in Miami.

Margaret: Again, thank you so much Victor for this interview and I wish you and your team much success in 2018 and the years to come.

Cheers!

Margaret E. Ayala