Forging a new path
Disentangling the modern rum world from its colonial past
As hard as some may try to ignore the fact, and as far as some think we may have moved past it, the history of the rum industry is intrinsically linked to slave labour – specifically that of enslaved African peoples who harvested sugarcane on vast plantations in the Caribbean for the profit of white
European settlers.
As painful as this history is, it is only by acknowledging it that we can open a pathway to talk about the future – and it’s far less black and white than the industry’s past. Rum today is a multifaceted, multicultural industry that is more in touch with its roots than it ever has been, but for this to continue in an age where consumers demand more transparency, companies – particularly in the white Western world – will have to confront some home truths.
Since taking over acclaimed London venue Trailer Happiness in 2012, Sly Augustin has sought to encourage as diverse a crowd as possible into his bar while speaking out on the social responsibility of bars and the wider drinks industry.
“It happens less now that people tend to know who I am, but people would come into the bar, walk past me, walk up to the first white face they saw and ask to speak to the owner. A lot of that is to do with perceptions,” he says. “Because the industry is predominantly white there is not that kind of perception of black people in the industry and their place in it.”
For Augustin, the colonial history of rum is something that should be addressed – he goes so far as to call it a “luxury” for some (white) industry commentators not to consider it. “Whenever you research rum and start to go back you inevitably come across stories that involve slavery,” he says. “We’re not talking about a percentage of production, we’re talking about 100 per cent of the labour. It does not exist without that element. When something is born of this level of exploitation, I think we have a responsibility, not to continually beat ourselves up about it, but there should be a mindfulness and a general respect for the history of it.”
This particular tide is beginning to turn. Slave Rum, a brand from Danish Distillery 1423 that claimed to be ‘honouring’ Caribbean slaves, changed its name after a public outcry. Last year also saw an announcement from Barbados’ Plantation Rum that it would be changing its name due to its links to slavery.
Augustin continues, “I try to find that balance between acknowledging where rum comes from and understanding that it is not in that space anymore. It has the potential to be unifying, because it has such a broad range and does mix with so many different cultures and territories around the world. Rum in its current context is something that could be very positive.”
The make-up of an industry’s workforce can give an indication of how far it has got in its diversity journey. While companies such as Diageo are blazing a trail in this area, there is more to be done to bring higher numbers of black, Asian and minority ethnic people, women, and the LGBT+ community into the fold at senior and customer-facing levels.
As an Afro-Latina woman, Plantation Rum’s global brand manager Stéphanie Simbo says rum has always been an important part of her life and a way to “honour my ancestors”.
“I entered the rum industry because of a lack of diversity,” she explains. “I love, live and breathe this industry. I grew up within a family of amateur clairin distillers and it broke my heart to see that the ones working the cane, the ones who broke their backs to increase the wealth of others, the ones who suffered from epigenetic trauma for it, are still
not invited to the table or taking the decisions that will impact their own life... We are seeing exceptions here and there, but the more you climb the ladder, the less diverse the crowd is. And this needs to change. Uncomfortable discussions need to happen.”
“The rum stage should be shared by producers and enthusiasts of all genders and backgrounds...”
Metinee (May) Kongsrivilai was the first female UK finalist in the Bacardí Legacy Cocktail Competition when she entered 10 years ago. The following year, the company offered her a job. She’s now global digital brand manager for Incubation Brands, a family of brands within the Bacardí portfolio that includes Santa Teresa and Aberfeldy.
She feels she was lucky to start her bartending career in inclusive Edinburgh, at a time when greats such as Shervene Shabazkhani, Meimi Sanchez and Georgie Bell were forging a path for young women in the industry. “It wasn’t until I moved back to London when I started to notice the true lack of diversity within the industry: my home city, one of the most multicultural and highly populated cities in the world, and yet I was always talking to a male-dominated Caucasian audience… Never before did I ask myself, ‘Why am I the only Asian in the room’, or ‘the only female in the room?’” she says.
Simbo says she also found herself questioning her position. “As a black woman, I constantly wondered whether it was for my skills or what I represent that I was being hired. The non-stop code switching, and the impostor syndrome that you develop because you are often the only black person at the table and do not want to ruin it for the rest of us – it is exhausting, but the fight needs to keep going.”
Kongsrivilai says greater inclusivity, and tackling its underlying ‘lad culture’, would benefit the whole rum industry. “The rum stage should be shared by producers, members and enthusiasts of all genders and backgrounds, so we can listen, discuss and share knowledge from different perspectives. When we learn about people’s stories and journeys, we can see our similarities and in turn appreciate the qualities that sometimes can divide the world of rum.”
She adds, “We need to celebrate not just the female rum greats like Joy Spence [Appleton], Lorena Vásquez [Zacapa] or Jassil Villanueva Quintana [Brugal] but other women in the industry, and people from other backgrounds who are behind and on the scene.”
On acknowledging those working ‘behind the scenes’, Augustin says good work is being done by brands such as Appleton Estate to forge and promote a deeper connection between the rum and its homeland. “It [Appleton] feels like a much more Jamaican product than it was before,” he says. “We have a product in the Caribbean which was created purely for export, so who was making it and what they liked was kind of irrelevant. Now, you are seeing more feedback from the actual people who make the rum.”
While the colonial era may (at least chronologically) be behind us, there are still vestiges of it in the production and promotion of rum that many are working hard to redress. As expectations of transparency increase – particularly in the growing premium end of the rum market – brands should prepare to have their balance and choices scrutinised.
Simbo puts it concisely: “I am commanding people at the top to look around them and see who sits at the table when important decisions are taken. If this looks like a table full of cisgender white men… Well, you’ll have your answer on what to do.”