Make way for craft rum
Are we about to follow rum’s journey from pirate to premium? We aargh, say experts
When KwaZulu-Natal rum maker Tapanga began bottling its cane juice liquor a year ago and Cape Town restaurant Seabreeze Fish & Shell opted for a specialised rum bar to accompany its seafood menu when it opened this year, both were banking on the same thing: a local rum revolution.
Hot on the heels of the craft gin boom, rum is set to be the next spirit to trend in South Africa.
The barrel-aged booze is gaining greater popularity in the US and parts of Europe and is shedding its Pirates of the Caribbean image as consumers seek premium products with craft stories.
Triya Govender, Pernod Ricard South Africa’s marketing manager, said consumers were beginning to appreciate rum as a finely crafted drink.
“South Africans have a penchant for the well-crafted, finer things in life and premium rum definitely ticks this box.
“Historically, rum has been pretty mainstream in South Africa, but as we see consumers’ palates ‘premiumise’, we see them experimenting with premium rums.”
The rising global popularity of the craft spirit was therefore likely to reach local shores very soon, she said.
According to Euromonitor data, luxury rum is expected to increase in sales by almost $230-million (about R3-billion) between 2015 and 2020.
Israel is expected to record 54% growth in rum sales in volume terms between 2016 and 2021, the highest globally.
Locally the spirit category has always been small, with just over seven million litres bought this year, compared with almost 43 million litres of whisky and more than 36 million of white spirits, such as gin.
Rising demand
Rum sales overall are expected to increase only slightly, but Euromonitor analyst Christele Chokossa said she expected the craft spirit market to continue on its growth trajectory, from which artisanal rum sales may benefit.
“Craft spirits remain a very small portion of alcoholic drinks in South Africa. However, the category has seen considerable growth over the past few years. The trend is particularly noticeable in gin, with its craft variant which has been increasingly popular in urban areas like Cape Town,” she said.
Gin’s success can be attributed to consumers’ growing exposure to spirit varieties, leading to a rising demand for better-quality products.
As more craft spirit makers entered the market, Chokossa said, the category would continue to grow. Large players in the market are likely to revitalise their offerings to earn the higher margins that come with premium products.
“The trend will be supported by rising demand among high- to middle-income consumers as they are increasingly seeking premium products with distinctive properties to match their lifestyles.”
Tapanga in Gingindlovu, south of Richards Bay, produces a light and gold craft rum made from cane juice. Zulu Rum in Durban produces three rums from molasses, after its owner Clinton Wyness realised four years ago that South Africa was a sugarcane-producing country without any homegrown rums.
In the Western Cape, Durbanville Distillery, which also produces vodka and gin, and Inverroche, known for its gins, have also brought craft rums to the market.
Big spirit palate
These products have found their way to dedicated rum joints like the Brian Lara Rum Eatery in Johannesburg and Seabreeze Fish & Shell. Wyness is in talks with a local hotel chain to launch several rum cocktail bars.
According to Geoff Woollatt, manager of Tapanga’s distillery in Gingindlovu, handcrafted rums are old news in Jamaica, but locally consumers have only known two or three big brands.
“Now people are turning to craft products more and more and going the organic route,” he said. As rum got a makeover, people realised that “it’s a smooth spirit that can be drunk neat”.
Previously it may have taken years for the trend to hit South Africa — and then after rum’s popularity might already have waned in the US and Europe. But today’s local consumer follows international trends more closely than before, said Rowan Leibbrandt, partner at luxury liquor distributor Truman & Orange.
“The overall sophistication of the South African consumer [improves] year after year. They’re more global, they’re more connected,” he said.
According to Leibbrandt, South Africa has a big spirit palate. This makes it easier to sell spirits to consumers in their 20s, who drink more than older people because they have been raised appreciating spirits. Paired with the country’s growing number of middle- to high-income earners, this could see craft spirit sales soar.
“As wealth levels have increased people no longer just have one gin, they have 10 [brands],” Leibbrandt said.
“In emerging markets you’ve got people that are used to change. They’re excited about it and they’re looking for new things. That’s the nature of ‘My dad didn’t have a lot of money and now my wife and I do’. Your whole world has changed.”
The next gin
The fact that the popularity of gin preceded rum abroad may be interpreted as pure coincidence, but there was an economic story behind the chronology, Leibbrandt said.
“[Globally] you had a long-run whisky boom [with growth] in distilling capacity in Scotland and other interesting places. The bitch about whisky is you need at least four years before you get anything worthwhile.”
To generate income while waiting to bottle their whiskies, distillers began running ingredients through their stills to make gin, which is quick to produce and doesn’t require a barrel. Similarly, rum has no legal ageing requirement in South Africa.
Woollatt, too, expects interest in craft rum as a unique product to grow.
“[One of the reasons] the craft guys are doing rum is because there’s so much you can do. You can play around,” he said.
“We have rum sitting in old wine barrels and that gives it a . . . unique taste, but it’s still a rum. It’s not like we have to call it a brandy rum.
“Because people have done the gin, they are now looking for different things.”
South Africans have a penchant for the finer things in life and premium rum ticks this box Triya Govender, left Pernod Ricard South Africa marketing manager