In rum, the blender is as revered as the distiller in bourbon. And like in bourbon, master blenders have predominantly been male.
But in both categories, women are rising through the ranks, proving themselves as or more effective at distilling and blending than men. For years Appleton’s Joy Spence led this charge in the rum world, as the celebrated Jamaican distillery’s master blender. Now, another hallmark rum brings a female master blender into the fold.
Master Blender Trudiann Branker replaces Master Blender Allen Smith, who served Mount Gay for over 25 years. A graduate of The Siebel Institute and the Institute of Brewing and Distilling, Branker has worked in the spirits industry for more than a decade and joined Mount Gay in 2014. With this new appointment, Branker becomes the first female master blender in the storied distillery’s history as well as the first in Barbados.
I caught up with Branker shortly after her title change in April and she’s ready to get this blending thing going.
Barbados has a rich distilling history, but you’re the first female master blender. That’s saying something.
It is, yeah, definitely. I’m the first female master blender for Mount Gay and for Barbados.
How is the Barbados culture toward women? Does it promote female professional growth?
Within the rum industry, the last five years, we’ve definitely seen more women taking senior roles in manufacturing. But Barbados is like everywhere else in the world with regards to the progression of women in the workforce.
What was your first job at Mount Gay?
I started in the quality assurance department, which allowed me to work with Allen closely. I transitioned over into designing blends.
What do you hope to change or improve about Mount Gay?
Certainly, my hope is to carry out those traditions of 300 years plus at Mount Gay. For me personally, I’m very interested in non-traditional aging rum and for highlighting the molasses.
Will we see more releases of your pot still?
We’ll definitely see more releases that I have a hand in. I can’t specifically say which ones.
Mount Gay’s always been a blend of pot and column and the ratio has been fixed, always been secret, but will we see a change in the ratio of pot still in the future everyday releases of Mount Gay?
The ages of blends will remain the same, but are still going to remain secret, definitely.
I want to shift a little bit towards Barbados. Barbados is a stalwart rum community, especially right now, with Foursquare winning so many awards and its very vocal leader Richard Seale’s beliefs. Do you agree with Richard Seale’s stance that sugar should not be added to Barbados rum?
I agree with his stance with regards to being transparent.
[Adding sugar] is not the way that Mount Gay will be going. It’s not the way that we have blended or we have made rum in the past, and it’s not the way that we’re going to make rum in the future.
Let’s shift to the category as a whole. What is the state of rum right now?
There’s a new generation who’s paying attention to rum. And through social media, they’re curious. Consumers want to know how you make your rum. What is special and unique about your blend? They want to know about your company. They will follow up with our oldest rum producer in the world comment with: What does that mean?
There are a lot of rums that are distilled in the same way as vodka, creating an essentially odorless and tasteless spirit. How do you feel about these more neutral rums?
They produce something almost like pure alcohol.
Exactly. And so, my follow-up question to that is you know should the rums that are being distilled very similar to vodka should they just be called vodka versus rum?
You know my thought on it is definitely rum is your basic sugarcane based, be it juice, be it molasses, be it syrup. I honestly like to call that distillate. And truly it truly becomes rum from after the aging process.
So, if someone’s coming off a still at 192 proof or 190 proof you’re giving them a pass as long as they’re putting it in barrel?
No, I’m not giving them a pass, but it is not my preference to make rum this way.
Okay, enough of those questions. What’s your favorite rum cocktail?
Honestly, I’m not a cocktail person to be quite honest. My favorite mix is simple XO with a splash of sparkling water and that’s it.
What’s your favorite Mount Gay expression?
My favorite Mount Gay expression? Honestly, we just did The Peat Smoke Master Blend edition number one. I thought that was very different unlike anything we had ever done before. I really liked it.
Fred Minnick is the author of Rum Curious and is the editor-in-chief of Bourbon+ Magazine.
