From the Editor: End of Year Wrap-Up

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End of Year Wrap-Up

As I look back at a year full of unveilings, debates, festivals and reports in our industry, the following stand out as being the most impactful:

  • The craft distilling movement continues to gain momentum: every month there are at least a couple of new companies joining the industry. Most of their new rums are sub-standard, but as the companies survive their first year in business, traces of quality begin to emerge. Some of the well-established craft distilleries are starting to produce export-quality rums.
  • Recognizing the impact of the above, some “craft” brands are being questioned by consumers and authorities, with some class action lawsuits being filed in cases where the term is being employed in misleading ways.
  • The number of new rum festivals around the world continues to go up. I believe every continent is now home to at least one such yearly event, supporting the notion that rum’s popularity continues to be on the rise.
  • Private labels continue to grow as cost-effective and quick alternatives to distilling, aging and blending.
  • Many rums are becoming more neutral and sweeter, both of these trends perhaps as attempts to lure in vodka and neophyte consumers.
  • US subsidies for rum producers in Puerto Rico and the USVI continue. Will 2015 be the year of change? We’ll see.
  • The ex-Bourbon/whiskey barrel shortage seems to have come to an end, but prices have not yet returned to their 2012 levels.
  • Governments around the world are pushing for more disclosure of ingredients on the labels (not just for rum), including use of caramel and sugar.

Overall, I am very happy to see that rum continues to be on people’s mind, as an investment, as a matter of policy or as a reward for a hard day’s work.

The large transnational companies still control the lion’s share of the market, but they are having to look left and right more frequently, often seeing how smaller brands are carving out their own territory in the highly-desired super-premium segment.

Cheers,

Luis Ayala, Editor and Publisher