Business View Caribbean - August/September 2018

34 35 continues. “We produce the finest bulk rums on the island, as well as branded rum under the name, Monymusk. At our Clarendon distillery, we can process 12 million liters per annum, while at Long Pond we can produce one million liters of alcohol per annum. “Ninety percent of what we produce is sold as bulk rum, the remaining 10 percent is con- verted to Monymusk branded rum, bottled and shipped to Canada, the UK, and other parts of the Caribbean.When we sell our bulk rum, we sell it to major players across the world; they, in turn, use what we have sold them to make their blends, which they then bottle and sell under their own labels. So, we’re selling rums to a number of spirits producers both locally and internationally. Monymusk is one of Jamaica’s oldest sugar and rum producing estates, and has been producing rum from molasses for over 200 years. The estate is synonymous with the production of good-quality rum that is world renowned.” “We currently have five expressions of rum,” says Commercial Manager, Damian Graveley. “We have White Over proof rum, which is 63 percent ABV; we have Whispering Breeze, which is a coconut-flavored liqueur which is also 40 percent ABV; Special Gold, a 40 percent ABV two-year-old rum; Classic Gold, a 40 percent ABV five-year-old rum; and Special Reserve, a 40 percent ten-year-old rum. Worthy of note is that our Special Reserve and Classic Gold NATIONAL RUMS OF JAMAICA, LTD. rums both won Gold medals at the Miami Rum Festival last year, underscoring that the finest branded rums come from National Rums of Jamaica.” National Rums has approximately 110 employees who work in its distilleries and head office. According to Harrison, the com- pany expects to achieve double-digit growth over the next few years due to an aggressive marketing focus that has started penetrating new markets, while also creating new brands under its Monymusk label. “We don’t do a lot of advertising,” says Harrison. “On the local scene, we have two distributors who cover the entire island. Internationally, we attend rum shows and exhibitions, and through that methodology, we engage players in the industry and develop relationships as well, as we leverage our part- ners/shareholders.” Jamaica is well-known for its rum produc- tion, and Harrison says that there are three or four other local companies that National Rums competes with. “But our competitors are really the rest of the world– the U.S. Virgin Islands, Panama, Trinidad, Barbados – they produce bulk rum from the Caribbean, as well. But locally, in the bulk space, we are the market leaders,” he states. One of the company’s challenges according to Harrison is getting enough local molasses, the main raw material for producing rum, which comes from cane sugar processing, to supply its