Liquor store shelves are crowded with celebrity spirits brands ranging from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s Teremana Tequila to Alan Jackson’s Silverbelly Whiskey and Charles Barkley’s Vulcan Gin. Often, the star’s involvement with the product ends after the first tasting of samples mailed from some huge distillery that’s more than happy to slap a different label on spirits they already manufacture in return for a famous face in the ad campaign.
But there are cases in which the celebrity actually contributes to the spirit of the spirit.
Such is the case with Nashville-based Trovador Rum, a creation inspired by the music and Cuban American heritage of Raul Malo, longtime frontman of The Mavericks. The rum takes its name from the Spanish word for “troubadour,” a term often applied to the beloved singer, and Malo’s music was what led to the birth of the brand.
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Chad Newton, owner of You Are Here Hospitality, is best known in town as the founder of East Side Banh Mi along with his wife Gracie Nguyen. Malo has been a big supporter of the couple’s sandwich shop and a frequent customer for catering gigs through the years. Newton is a fan of Malo’s music, particularly his solo album Say Less, a pandemic-era instrumental project featuring Malo’s prowess as a guitarist.
“I was listening to the album a lot, and it suddenly occurred to me, ‘This is like the soundtrack of rum,’” says Newton. Indeed, much of the music on Say Less is inspired by the Caribbean, but that label itself is an oversimplification.
The islands of the Caribbean exhibit vastly different cultures, each influenced differently based on whether they were colonized by the Spanish, the British, the French or the Dutch. Rum shares a similarly complex background, and that’s what Malo and Newton wanted to explore with Trovador. After an initial pitch to Malo on a visit to Houston, Newton began to assemble a team to create and market their final product, rather than simply relabeling an existing spirit.
Newton reached out to Devon Trevathan and Colton Weinstein of Liba Spirits, a pair who already had experience exploring the concept of expressing location through distillation. Their Lafcadio Botanical Rum was created in New Orleans using local molasses and other regional flavoring ingredients like cardamom, white pepper and bay leaves. Louisiana native Beau Gaultier joined the team to contribute his mixology skills, creating new recipes for Travador — a crucial element, since rum is the base of so many classic cocktails. Trovador is aiming to become a staple ingredient in local bars. Jesse Goldstein handled the branding and design work, tasks he has taken on for many successful local culinary companies.
Malo was immediately impressed by the assemblage of talent. “Chad was the one that got this party started, and he has put together a team of young entrepreneurs that know this business inside and out,” says Malo. “From the distilling side of things with Devon and Colton, to the marketing side with Beau and Jesse, everyone is hands-on and committed. As a member of this team I couldn’t be prouder of the work that they are doing.”
Together the production team sought out spirits to blend that could share the story and history of rum and the region. They settled on three different spirits, a base of Cuban-style rum produced using molasses and a special strain of yeast, an older Dominican rum that contributes more vanilla and butterscotch, and a pot-still-distilled rum from Mexico made using fresh cane juice that accentuates the herbaceous and fruity notes of the sugar cane plant.
Malo’s influence is evident in these very intentional choices of specific styles of rum in the blend. “My heritage certainly had an effect on all my suggestions for the creation of this rum,” he says. “From the label to the taste of it, the team felt it should reflect that connection. For example, Cuban rum tends to be sweeter than others. We felt that it definitely should be smooth, but perhaps not as sweet as you might expect. I think we struck a beautiful balance between old and new.”
After blending the three spirits and proofing them down to an alcohol level appropriate for cocktails, the resulting product was bottled in Nashville for distribution locally through Lipman. Retailing in the mid-$20 range, Trovador is approachable and appropriate for home mixology or for a prime placement on cocktail menus. It’s already made the list at noted craft cocktail bars like Chopper, Coral Club, Maíz de la Vida, Martha My Dear, Hubba Hubba Tiki Tonk, Tall Tales Rooftop Bar, Cherries and other establishments that are serious about their cocktails.
Some of the rum used in the Trovador blend has been aged in new or used barrels, so there’s a little tinge of color to the final product. It’s not silver rum or gold rum, but Newton aptly describes it as “like a reposado rum for tequila drinkers.” Made without additives, Trovador has a flavor that comes from the interplay of cane juice, molasses, yeast and oak, which offer undertones of tropical fruits like mango and pineapple, toasty coconut, honey and a touch of citrus and salinity.
Bartenders can draw on any or many of these characteristics to craft a new cocktail recipe, or amateur mixologists can pick up a bottle from local liquor stores to experiment with in the home bar. It’s also fantastic as part of a simple highball made with soda and a squeeze of lime.
The young brand is quickly gaining a reputation around Nashville, but placements in other regions are planned at a more deliberate pace. (Although it is available to ship online to 47 states.) Malo and the team are patient with the process.
“I am not one to give in to hubris or self-aggrandizing,” says Malo. “The fact that this beautiful product is real and has been bottled, created and stocked in certain stores and restaurants is not lost on me. These are small victories, for now. But they are important as we build this from the ground up. I’ve always believed that no matter what it is you do, do it right, and do it to the best of your ability — and everything will be fine.”
