Aged Stocks

[JMac]

I don't know why I have never asked this question before but here goes:

How does a rum distillery determine the amount of rum that it has to put away for aging? Once that is complete how do they maintain it?

So for an example..El Dorado wants to launch a new 18 year rum. How do they determine the initial amount of rum to put away for aging. Then how would they maintain the supply?

[Edward Hamilton]

Distillers rarely put away rum for a new product as much as 18 years in advance. Products like that are generally a function of desired taste profiles, availability and market demand. Over the last 15 years for example, the Serralles distillery in Puerto Rico has gradually changed the profile of their oldest rum as the taste profile that they wanted changed.

To guess what the market for a product will be 15 or more years in advance is one of the toughest things a distillery has to do. When you're attempting to break into new markets the problems of forecasting are compounded even further.

[rumdog007]

Originally Posted by Edward Hamilton

Distillers rarely put away rum for a new product as much as 18 years in advance. Products like that are generally a function of desired taste profiles, availability and market demand. Over the last 15 years for example, the Serralles distillery in Puerto Rico has gradually changed the profile of their oldest rum as the taste profile that they wanted changed.

To guess what the market for a product will be 15 or more years in advance is one of the toughest things a distillery has to do. When you're attempting to break into new markets the problems of forecasting are compounded even further.

Good point, Ed. Also, the taste profile of that, say, 15 year old product, when it has matured, can be as much of a mystery and hard to predict as the market.

[JMac]

18 years in advance would be a wing and a prayer....

To keep using El Dorado as an example then....how would they maintain their supply of 12 year stock? Surely they must have some plan or formula in place to keep up the supply to avoid what had happened to George Dickel distillery re their #8.

[Ellis34]

To ask another question along the lines:
Do any companies have older stocks of rums that they have stored for other companies to buy and blend with their own? If not, breaking into the business even with the best people and facilities would be hard. I mean even the youngest rums that are worth much are 3 yrs old. Long time to invest and keep up the business with no sales coming in.

I know that angel share accounts for a good bit of loss for older spirits, but how can a company know how much of what rums that they will need in the future? Talk about a long range forcast!

[RonJames]

To answer Ellis question, yes, I do believe they sell off some older stocks. It might be a case of "well, this year I used half of my 8yr old rum stocks, why don't I keep 30% for next year, 10% for a new high end product down the road, and sell the remaining 10% to a private bottler for some immediate capital". This is just a theory but looking at the products and how the rum industry works it would surprise me if it wasn't the case.

[Gecko]

This just might explain why sometimes you have to double check the label of a bottle, because you knew what you poured but the taste and nose remind you of another rum