From Whiskey to Rum: A Spirited Journey

In this spirited conversation with Maggie Campbell, CEO of American Cane, some of the topics we discuss include:

• Maggie’s road to rum, which winds through philosophy, spice shops, wineries, and legendary brandy houses before arriving at her break-out role as distiller (and later President) at Privateer Rum

• Why sales and distribution are the hardest part of the spirits industry and how her experience working in the sales trenches and partnering with distributors paved the way for a great adventure working as a project leader for Mt. Gay Rum in Barbados

• We touch on the functional aesthetics of both vineyards and cane fields - the ways in which soil health, drainage, and cane-specific indicators like, lodging, arrowing, and low MOC factors can contribute to a healthy and beautiful cane growing operation

• And we also discuss how to think about terroir in spirits - specifically how it’s derived not only from landscapes and climate conditions, but also from the perspectives taken and decisions made in these diverse locales over long periods of time.

• Along the way, we muse on why you can’t hide anything in a rum distillation, the multinomial nature of cane dogs, why only foreigners like the monkeys in Barbados, and much, much more.