Upcoming US Rum Releases of Interest — September 2023

31 August 202331 August 2023 ~ Robbie ~ 1 Comment

Here’s a new list of upcoming rum releases for the US market compiled from TTB label certifications approved in August. These are only label approvals recorded at the US TTB, so none of these are likely to be available yet and it’s anyone’s guess when they might appear in stores.

This doesn’t include every rum label approval, I’ve tried to triage the approvals to the brands that people would recognize, while also including other labels that might be interesting. Last month I included several cachacas, but this month I’m excluding them because there were quite a few. The list also doesn’t include flavored/spiced rums.

This month’s highlights include more Mexican rums from Alambique Serrano, rhum agricoles from Damoiseau, a new Providence release from Haiti, Raising Glasses and Rolling Fork have a partnership bottling, Worthy Park is either rebranding Rum-Bar or adding line extensions, and Samaroli’s next batch of rums have approved labels.

Interesting things: A new rum from Uganda as well as one distilled at Missouri State University. And a rum for real, actual spies.

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SE Asia Drinks Events Calendar updated

22 August 2023 ~ Robbie ~ Leave a comment

This morning I added dates for The Malt Affair Singapore to the calendar, and with that almost all of the expected 2023 events are now scheduled.

The calendar is here. If you see anything missing, please let me know! I haven’t heard any updates about Whisky Live Thailand, as of now that’s the only expected 2023 event that hasn’t announced a date/location. I wish I could attend these this year, but sadly won’t be able to.

Good (and bad) signs from the first post-collapse SVB Wine Survey

18 August 202318 August 2023 ~ Robbie ~ Leave a comment

Earlier this year, many of us wondered what the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank would have on their wine division. The most externally-visible product of that department is their annual Wine Survey. Each year, the bank surveys wineries and related businesses to get the pulse of the industry over the past year. The result of this survey is released to the public for free, and it’s eagerly anticipated by the beverage alcohol industry. In March, even Rob McMillan (who ran/runs the division) was more than a little worried about the future of the report and the division under a new owner.