74: Uncovering Terroir at Grenada's Renegade Rum Distillery with Mark Reynier and Jane Nurse (Part 1)

The Rumcast

In this episode, we sit down with Renegade Rum's Mark Reynier and Jane Nurse to learn all about the Grenada distillery's terroir-driven approach to cane juice rum. This is one of the newest distilleries of its size in the Caribbean, and the path to bringing it to life was not easy. In Part 1, Mark and Jane take us through the winding journey of not only building a distillery from scratch, but also planting hundreds of acres of sugarcane across an array of locations around the island in an effort to highlight all the flavors the land has to offer.

We discuss:

How an Englishman got the idea to build a rum distillery from scratch in the Caribbean

Why Grenada became the ideal location for the project

How Mark's experience starting Bruichladdich Distillery in Scotland and Waterford Distillery in Ireland informed Renegade

The setbacks that nearly killed the project multiple times

What terroir means in the first place (and how Renegade thinks about the concept)

Why terroir in spirits has drawn heavy debate and controversy

And more

P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.