Cruzan Rum Distillery

They were telling the world, we're going to build a 20-million-gallon facility, and they were just multiplying the 1325 times 20 million, which is $265 million, and that's how much money we're going to get to the Treasury and all that stuff.

And Cruzan Rum was telling us that's a figment of their imagination.

There's not enough people in the world to drink that amount of rum.

and now that's being panned out.

Now we, we went through significant complications, but that ain't really the focus.

The-- Here's the deal, right? In late two thousand and six, Cruzan Rum came to the government of the Virgin Islands and asked for some marketing support, and they negotiated a deal.

They sent it down to the legislature, and we approved that in November of two thousand and six.

What was missing, right? And, and, and this is where leaders really could mislead the electorate.

Here is what happened.

Cruzan Rum wanted some support in marketing, and they wanted some support in production.

All right? I think it was up to thirty-five percent in marketing, maybe forty, forty-five percent in production, whatever it was.

I think it was more pr- more marketing than anything else.

... is super amazing.

Well, I mean, um, as you know from other podcasts we've done, you know, I was the GM down at Cruzan Rum in the Virgin Islands for three years.

We used well water, right? Like this is a, you know, this is an island that is 80 square miles surrounded by ocean, and we used well water that was fresh water that could supply us 100 gallons per minute on an island in the Caribbean.

So it's just nuts, right? Like, um, and pretty much untreated, and that's what we would use.

No, dude, and those are the stories that Jane and I have been telling our entire careers, right? Whether it was at Maker's or Heaven Hill.

You know, I used to, you know, I'd, I'd tell the story of, you know, Jim Beam, and you got Booker, and now you got Fred, now you got Freddie, and then, you know, you go to Maker's Mark and you got, you know, Bill Sr., and Bill, and Rob.

And then I'm at Heaven Hill and I've got the Shapirs, but I also have Parker Beam and Craig Beam, and I'm down in St. Croix running Cruzan Rum, and I have the Nelthropp family.

Like, like you tell these stories over and over, and you're super proud of it, like super proud of where you are and who you represent.