Some of the rums in stock at Ecco Restaurant were made in Martinique. photo Mike Price

Ecco Restaurant

The Minister of Rum at work.

Many in the community expressed interest in Martinique by attending the rum tasting.

Almost 30 years ago, Ed Hamilton was a mechanical engineer selling airplane parts, and he wasn’t completely satisfied with his job.  Having grown up in Florida near the beach, he wanted an occupation with a little more sunshine and a lot more freedom. 

During one of his many business trips, his boss persuaded him that he wasn’t cut out for “capitalism at all costs,” and that he should start to set goals for a new career.  On a piece of paper, he should write down something he wanted to achieve in the near future and list a specific plan.

“So this is what I wrote,” Mr. Hamilton told GlobalAtlanta, grabbing a scrap piece of paper left on a table in the bar at Ecco Restaurant in Atlanta.

“Go sailing. I quit,” he wrote. “And that’s the last regular job I ever had,” he said just before addressing an audience at a rum tasting sponsored by Ecco, GlobalAtlanta, La Martinique, Atlanta Accueil and the French-American Chamber of Commerce.

From that time until 1993, Mr. Hamilton traveled the globe performing jobs that were anything but regular.

He worked on oil rigs in Southeast Asia, taught sailing in California and built sailboats in Taiwan.

Mr. Hamilton bought his first sailboat, the Tafia, in 1984.  In 1993, after an intriguing conversation in Puerto Rico about the quality of rums and distilleries, he set sail from Puerto Rico to Trinidad and everywhere in between, searching for the answers to rum’s deepest questions. 

He published his findings—more than 150 rums and 35 distilleries—in a book called “Rums of the Eastern Caribbean” in 1995, the same year he launched the Ministry of Rum, his comprehensive Internet rum and distillery database and discussion forum for rum-lovers worldwide. 

With his Web site attracting 20,000 unique visitors per month, it’s safe to say that Mr. Hamilton is a well-known and trusted resource.  With aged rums and rhum agricole (made in the French West Indies from pure sugar cane juice instead of molasses) giving rum a more upscale image, Mr. Hamilton decided to put his encyclopedic rum knowledge to use by starting an import business called Caribbean Spirits Inc.

Although he was traveling, as he is 300 days out of the year, GlobalAtlanta caught up with him to talk about the state of rum imports into America and Georgia, and how Martinique’s rum industry is dealing with shortened supply of sugar cane after the ravages of Hurricane Dean.

In a recent email interview, the Minister told GlobalAtlanta that rum imports on the rise in the U.S. and that Georgia is one of his thriving markets, with Atlanta as America's "third cocktail city" behind Chicago and Miami:

The rum trade in America and Atlanta’s role

GlobalAtlanta: How have rum imports increased in the United States since you started your company, and how has that increase been related to rum's developing image as a more upscale spirit?

Ed Hamilton: Rum has grown at more than 10 percent a year, according to the Distilled Spirits Council. Since most rum consumed in the U.S. is imported, imports have grown by that amount, which is attributed to the fact that the rums which are being imported and consumed today are much better quality than what was on the shelves 10 years ago. Image is important, but if the quality wasn’t in the bottle, rum consumption wouldn’t be growing.

VIDEO from rum tasting

The Minister of Rum discusses Martinique’s rhum agricole and Delta’s nonstop flight to Martinique. video by Trevor Williams QuickTime    Windows Media

Ed Hamilton: The American rum market is better than some countries in Europe due to our proximity to Europe, and everyone (in the Caribbean) has a cousin in Miami. But many European countries, Germany for example, consume more rum per capita than the U.S.

GlobalAtlanta: What types of rum have led to rum’s newfound respect?

Ed Hamilton: The sale of aged and so-called premium rums, which are defined by Distilled Spirits Council as those that sell for more than Bacardi – their benchmark without regard to quality; only price, has grown by more than 12 percent a year for the last few years. Although everyone is talking about the aged rums being the most popular and what has driven the sale of rum in the past few years, my experience is that there is a lot of young and even fresh rum being consumed, but again the distinction is the quality of the product being consumed.

GlobalAtlanta: Where do you do most of your business in the U.S.?  One place, or spread widely? 

Ed Hamilton: Bars and in the media, though the biggest markets are Illinois, California, New York and Georgia.

GlobalAtlanta: Are you mostly seeing rums going to California and New York, big places like that?

Ed Hamilton: Not necessarily. Colorado, Kentucky and Indiana are growing markets and the online business is a booming marketplace for better spirit.

GlobalAtlanta: Where does Atlanta fall on the continuum? 

Ed Hamilton: I see Atlanta as the third cocktail city in America. Certainly there are more places where the bartenders know and care of the quality of their craft than in Chicago, Miami and a lot of other places.

Martinique’s rum industry

GlobalAtlanta: What is the Delta Air Lines Inc. flight to Martinique's effect on Martinique's rum industry, and how does that affect your business and the rum trade in general?

Ed Hamilton: Two years ago most people in the U.S. had no idea what rhum agricole was or that rum was being made on Martinique. Delta and the media have changed that.  

GlobalAtlanta: How is rhum agricole different than regular rum, and do the differences make it one of the highest quality rums?

Ed Hamilton: Most rum is distilled from fermented molasses, while rhum agricole is distilled from freshly squeezed sugar cane juice. Imagine the difference between a molasses wine and a fresh sugar cane juice wine and you’ll begin to understand the difference.