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.