Fledgling Rum Makers’ Product Imbued With Tennessee Spirit

Far from the traditional image of rum making in the Caribbean, where sugar cane is abundant and tourists sip fruity concoctions decorated with paper umbrellas, Phil Prichard set up shop off in this tiny town near the Alabama border.

Just up the David Crockett Highway are yard signs selling country hams and birdhouses. The only hint of any island is “bermuda hay.” Locally distilled rum is still quite a novelty here.

The former Memphis marketing executive knew what he was up against when he and lawyer Ray Jameson started Prichards’ Fine Rum two years ago and called their first batch “Fiery Gizzard,” after a nearby creek supposedly named by Crockett.

“That was 100-proof aged rum that we kind of did our initial marketing experiments with,” said Prichard, 62, who now sells only a toned-down, 80-proof version.

Prichard opened his distillery, the first new one in Tennessee in more than 50 years, at the mostly empty Kelso Community Center, just down the road from whiskey stalwarts Jack Daniels and George Dickel.

He said he chose the Kelso community because it is in Lincoln County, one of three Tennessee counties that allow distilleries.

Prichard oversees production from a workshop he rents for $200 a month at the community center, an old schoolhouse where dances are held every Saturday night and voters cast ballots each election day.

A tanker loaded with “Grade-A fancy” molasses from Louisiana sits outside and connects by pipes to three huge fermenters where the rum is made with Tennessee spring water in copper kettles.

Unlike his Caribbean-island competitors, Prichard, believed to be the only rum maker in the Southeast, sometimes has to worry about keeping his molasses flowing during cold weather. When the temperature drops to the mid-20s, the rum-making stops until it warms up again past the freezing mark.

A Rum Unlike No Other

And unlike some alcoholic beverages, including rums, that are sealed in 53-gallon barrels, Prichard seals his liquor in 15-gallon charred oak casks. The smaller oak casks give the rum a smoky flavor that Prichard describes as unique and dry.

With his wife, two sons and occasionally a few friends, Prichard produces about 50 cases of rum each month to ship to stores in Tennessee, Georgia and Arkansas. Starting next year, the rum, sold in a 750-milliliter bottle for about $30, will be sold in Alabama and most of the Midwest.

Jon Kell, spirit sales manager at Chattanooga-based Lookout Beverage, said Tennessee is a “whiskey state,” but drinkers like to support local brands. So he sells Prichards’ Fine Rum alongside Jack Daniels and George Dickel.

“It has only been here about seven months and it is doing well,” Kell said. “A lot of people still haven’t found it yet.”

He said the Prichards’ rum sets a new standard with a bourbon-like flavor rather than the cognac overtone of most rums, and the rum makers’ timing in entering a primarily import market is good.

Specialty rums have been increasingly popular, and drinkers are “getting away from the bulk rums,” Kell said. “They are moving away from Bacardi.”

While some rum brands sell for $9 a bottle, Prichards’ main competitors are upscale rums like Cruzan and Myers, both made in the Caribbean. Some brands cost up to $50.

Few of Prichards’ neighbors have really noticed the distillery.

Linda Woods, whose great-grandfather settled in Kelso from Virginia after the Revolutionary War, said she is surprised that there haven’t been complaints.

“Most people are not aware that he is there,” said Woods, a local historian. “You still have a lot of people who don’t support that. . . . Maybe they are not quite getting the connection. People will say, ‘Are you aware there is a distillery in the Kelso school?’ I think when you say whiskey, you might hear from somebody.”

Supposed Rivals Aren’t Overly Concerned

But Lincoln County Executive Officer Jerry Mansfield has high hopes for Prichards’ distillery--that it will expand, eventually providing jobs and becoming a tourist attraction like the George Dickel and Jack Daniels distilleries.

Jack Daniels isn’t worried about the competition. Roger E. Brashears Jr., a spokesman for the 150-year-old distillery, said, “I don’t think there are any concerns on that here in Lynchburg.

“The rum connoisseur and Tennessee whiskey connoisseur are two different tastes.”