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Whenever you consider rum, many associations come to thoughts, from sugarcane (its fundamental ingredient), rum punch and Caribbean islands, to drunken sailors and swashbuckling pirates. Though it’s a drink loved all over the world, the rum trade has a darkish previous. Within the 1600s, when rum manufacturing started to achieve recognition, those that benefited from the trade did so via disagreeable means with the exploitative labor of enslaved Africans.
So what occurs when in 2020 5 siblings of West African descent determine to launch a premium alcohol model based mostly on robust cultural ties and good occasions? The award-winning, golden spiced Étän rum was born.
In speaking with Étän co-creators, a robust sense of group, sisterhood and proud possession is obvious. The next Q&A with one of many sisters, Caroline Fosang, is an thrilling perception into the origins, household values and concepts of a model that has already performed so properly in simply three years since its inception.
dr. Byron Cole: Are you able to inform us in regards to the origins of Étän Rum and the way the thought for this enterprise took place?
Caroline Fosang: Our mother and father knew throw a fantastic social gathering once we had been rising up. From that got here a love for a very good time with household and associates with a very good drink in hand. All of us have related mindsets and wish to spend high quality time collectively. Throughout one in all these gatherings we began reminiscing and it led to a dialog about making a rum and a model that displays us and our unity as 5 sisters, but additionally celebrates our Cameroonian heritage. Et voila! Idea 5 is born, Étän.
Étän, means ‘5’ within the language of our mother and father ‘Munga’ka’ spoken in Bali – a village within the northwestern area of Cameroon.
Cole: Étän is impressed by your loved ones’s heritage and your love of spiced rum. How did you handle to mix these influences to create a singular and award-winning golden spiced rum?
Fosang: First, our mom, a robust black lady who’s our queen, continuously evokes us in the best way she leads her life, her work ethic and her fierce independence. Better of all, her limitless love and assist preserve our ambitions alive and drive us ahead to a excessive objective.
Secondly, our late father, who was a social and fun-loving character, at all times had a penchant for enterprise and had a number of companies in Cameroon. He traveled Europe and Southeast Asia at all times on the lookout for the following alternative, instilling in us that onerous work is at all times rewarded and must be toasted with good spirit.
Collectively they at all times inspired us to be the perfect model of ourselves with that outdated cliché ‘the sky is the restrict’. They’ve been instrumental in creating our sisterhood, and we’ve ensured that we work along with our shared targets and aspirations in thoughts. Typically it’s arduous to place particular person opinion apart, however it’s so essential to acknowledge when there’s a higher thought that’s finally finest not just for the person however for the enterprise as a complete. That is why we inspire, uplift and have fun one another every single day and with out this there could be no Étän!
Cole: Rum is historically related to the Caribbean and Latin America. What led you to create a rum model with Cameroonian influences?
Fosang: Our love for sugar cane! Now we have very fond childhood reminiscences of our holidays in Cameroon the place we might go to our prolonged household in our mother and father’ village of Bali, within the northwestern a part of Cameroon. A typical day within the village concerned going to the farm to first harvest crops resembling corn, maize and groundnuts, earlier than enthusiastic about different actions for the day.
Beginning at 5am was not our favourite expertise to say the least till we found our grandparents sugarcane plantation subsequent to the farm. This was our newfound pleasure! And it did not take lengthy for us to grow to be consultants at biting via sugarcane skins to achieve the candy, gentle stalks inside.
Now we’re adults, we actually get pleasure from hanging out collectively and having a very good drink (responsibly). Drawing from the above, the seed was planted and it was abundantly clear that rum was the place to be. And right here we’re. Whereas we at present import our base rum from the Caribbean, we hope to distill our personal rum utilizing the household’s sugar cane to create a spread of rums together with one we’ll label ‘5’, Cameroon’s first British impressed spiced rum.
An Étän Rum Mango Daquiri
Cole: Rum Étän is understood for the right concord of 5 herbs. Are you able to share extra about these botanicals and the way they contribute to the rum’s distinctive taste profile?
Fosang: The 5 botanical spices we fastidiously chosen for this distinctive taste profile embrace feverfew, orange peel, cassia, ginger and vanilla present in and round West Africa. The distinctive aroma of fever grass mixed with orange peel provides the rum citrusy notes, which is properly balanced by the scrumptious sweetness of cassia and vanilla, after which the addition of a touch of ginger to make sure the rum packs a punch! A flexible easy and complicated spiced rum.
Cole: Profitable the Silver Award at London Spirits Competitors 2021 is a big achievement. Are you able to inform us extra in regards to the journey to this recognition and what it means for Étän Rum?
Profitable this award was a giant deal for us and that shiny shiny silver label on our bottle is one thing we’re very pleased with. After perfecting the liquid, model identification and viewers, it was a no brainer to show to rum ambassador, Ian Burrell, for his sincere opinion on Étän. Months later, we had been additionally impressed to study that he was the rum and drinks skilled on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch, when he requested us if we would like Étän to seem on the present – a beautiful alternative that we jumped at with each palms. The panel described Étän as shockingly scrumptious and gave us rave critiques.
We bought round 250 bottles inside a couple of months of our gentle launch in August 2020 (throughout lockdown) so we knew the rum tasted nice and to have it confirmed on the Channel 4 Sunday Brunch panel was superb. It actually introduced us to tears and made all of the arduous work really feel so worthwhile. Through the present, our web site went down with quite a lot of orders. Guess what? We had been bought out! Nothing was as bittersweet as this, and we knew right away, being London women, that we needed to enter the London Spirits Competitors.
To our shock, we gained silver with 86 factors, 4 factors lower than gold! Profitable such an award reinforces that we’ve a rum that may maintain itself. We are able to say that gold is unquestionably on the horizon, watch this area.
Cole: Your slogans are ‘Rum to the ability of 5’, ‘5 heads are higher than one’ and ‘Excellent Concord 5’. How do these slogans replicate the essence and values of Étän Rum?
These slogans completely sum up the approaching collectively of us 5 sisters and the 5 botanicals used to provide this top quality premium rum that may be loved by individuals all over the world. Slogan ideas seek advice from the beliefs and angle of our household, firmly set by our mother and father and seek advice from the diploma to which our household relationships are valued in our lives.
Cole: What units Étän Rum other than different spiced rums in the marketplace? How do you see its growth within the rum trade and within the wider beverage market?
African Woman Energy! Étän rum is an African impressed twist on rum recognized to be Caribbean and historically very masculine. Right here, you’ve got the primary rum to be led by 5 skilled girls, truly sisters. Additionally, the 5 fastidiously chosen spices combined into this rum give it a je ne sais quoi (French for ‘I do not know what’: a pleasing high quality that can’t be precisely named or described) that units it other than the remaining; to not point out our beautiful and distinctive bottle.
It is a premium spiced rum that may be loved sipped neat, but additionally as a base in a spread of scrumptious cocktails (not simply with cola like Étän libre!), which makes it versatile, so we consider we’re on our manner . one thing within the rum trade and the broader beverage market.
Are you able to describe the style and character of Étän Rum? How would you suggest having fun with it, both by itself, with a mixer or in cocktails?
Étän is easy, spicy and never too candy so it is as nice as sipping rum. Nevertheless, its versatility lends itself to many cocktails, and the botanicals add a number of dimensions to family cocktails.
Considered one of our favorites is the Bali Iced Tea and though it contains 4 spirits, Étän holds its personal with ginger and feverfew breaking via so as to add just a little further oomph! We create quite a lot of our personal cocktails and you’ll test them out right here.
Étän Alive cocktail with pomegranate and keenness fruit
Étän Rum is described as keto and vegan pleasant, with no added sugar or components. Are you able to share extra about its dietary profile and enchantment to health-conscious shoppers?
Étän is a 40% golden spiced rum that has been distilled with out added sugar or the usage of animal merchandise. Étän Rum focuses on the pure sweetness and spice present in rum and botanicals.
This clearly addresses the sugar/calorie downside drinkers have with darker spirits, making it a keto-friendly rum as its dietary profile is 0 throughout the board, with simply 66 energy per 25ml, coming in at simply from the alcohol itself. Well being-conscious shoppers and everybody else can get pleasure from Étän repeatedly, guilt-free.
Past its superior high quality, how does Étän Rum replicate the cultural variety and heritage which can be more and more essential in at the moment’s market?
Étän is synonymous with our heritage and that has at all times been the objective, so shoppers who need to spend money on merchandise that not solely meet the mark of high quality, however present authenticity of their providing, have led us to weave the golden thread of our heritage via all points of Étän.
As well as, as tradition works within the thoughts, we ensured that our alternative of botanicals and Ethan’s visuals (which many do not know is the sample of West Africa and the five-pointed star on which Cameroon sits) replicate our African heritage and the cultural significance of household – with the five-pointed which represents the 5 of us. Furthermore, we embody our femininity and have fun it in an enviornment the place males are represented.
Étän’s bottle form additionally speaks to this by shifting away from the standard cylindrical bottle and introducing a rum that’s fashionable, fiery, fragrant and intimidating – similar to our African tradition and heritage. We invite everybody to take a sip and revel in!
The title Étän means 5 in Munga’ka. Are you able to elaborate on the which means of this title and the way it pertains to the model identification?
The importance of the title Étän is gigantic. Distinctive, unforgettable, cultural, empowering and unifying. Étän includes 5 robust, skilled, hard-working girls with an unbreakable household bond, which connects our heritage and our love for nice spiced rum.
The language of our mother and father, ‘Munga’ka’, is spoken in Bali within the North West Province of Cameroon Étän means 5. Bali was the previous middle of the dominion and is legendary for its palace and common festivals, the right backdrop for the golden spiced rum. Étän encompasses the 5 of us and the 5 vegetation we use and can finally be our legacy.
Cole: In what methods do you propose to display Étän’s credibility within the rum trade and proceed to ascertain it as probably the greatest spiced rums on the market?
Étän’s credibility is underlined by the annual London Spirits Competitors, which judges spirits on their high quality, worth for cash and look, and claims to “single out and shine a light-weight on these spirits manufacturers that customers actually need to purchase”. A spokesperson for the competitors stated: “To be an award winner you’ll want to have premium spirits that provide each the commerce and the buyer nice worth for cash, and you’ll want to look good and actually stand out on the shelf and available in the market. final bar.”
A bottle of Étän Rum
We are able to all attest that Étän affords simply that, and we’re delighted that the London Spirits Competitors has acknowledged this in its annual award. Subsequently, pushing Étän ahead, we’re continuously engaged on model consciousness and enterprise growth to carry the perfect of the perfect.
You may go to Étän Rum’s web site right here. Additionally, observe their journey on Instagram and LinkedIn.