SVMINTERVIEW

RIGHLAND RUMGeorgia's own Richland Distilling Company will bring the taste of

high-end handcrafted Richland Rum to this year's Toast of the TownA lifelong afJinity fOrrwn and a plot of land ripe fOr sugar caneproduction turned Richland Distilling Company owner Erik ibnksdream into a reality. In a market dominated by mass-producedspirits, Richland Rwn brings back a unique artisan approach tocrafting premium rwn, with a total dedication to quality notquantity. Riohland Rwn is handcrafted locally in historic dom:ztom:zRichland, Georgia, with all natural ingredients; it is fermented,distilled and aged fOrminimaJIy one year in oak barrels and bottledby the Richland Distilling Company

Tell us a little about the history of Richland Rum and whyyou chose Richland, Georgia as your headquarters? I've hada fascination with rum as long as I can remember. When therewas an opportunity in the early 1990s to buy farm land nearRichland, we did it because it was within reach, commutable andthe land was in an area that used to produce sugar cane. That wasour 'eureka' moment. We said 'ah ha' now there's an opportunityto own land, grow sugar cane and make rum.

We also acquired an old, turn of the century building indowntown Richland that had been boarded up for 26 years, tohouse the distillery. Since then we have become part of thedowntown revival in Richland.

Since the first inclination of the future Richland DistillingCompany came to mind, what entrepreneurial obstacles haveyou faced? Some of the laws and regulations in place around alcoholare antiquated, dating back to the prohibition years, meaning the lawsare overdue for revision. From day one of the process to beinggranted the permits has taken 3 years. No entrepreneur should be putthrough that. On the positive side, once we had the permits andstarted to distil, we have seen very positive response in the market.

How do you differentiate yourself from the competition? Bytaking a complete artisan approach. We're really bringing back ahandcrafted product as it was made hundreds of years ago. Mostrums, and spirits in general, are produced on a very large scaleusing industrial techniques. We produce on a small scale and doit all by hand, which is a big differentiating factor.

You only use two ingredients in your rum - sugar cane juice orpremium sugar cane syrup and water. Why is the absence ofmolasses an important factor? Almost all rum is made frommolasses, which is a by-product of sugar cane. We never usemolasses, we only use fresh pure sugar cane juice, or the next bestversion of it; condensed sugar cane juice with the water taken out,known as syrup. When sugar cane juice or syrup is fermented, youget a very different taste profile and there is a noticeable differencein aromas and fullness of taste in comparison to fermented molasses.

Do you have a favorite rum cocktail you'd like to share?Richland Rum is a high-end, high quality rum that should be enjoyedas a sipping rum, either from a snifter or on the rocks. Having saidthat, we have a favorite cocktail that was created by a professionalmixologist in Atlanta that is called the Richland Rum GingerbreadCocktail. The recipe is available at richlandrumcom

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