Helmsman Imports presents at New York Rum Fest
New York-based Helmsman Imports will have a presenting role at The Rum Lab’s New York Rum Festival & Conference on 5-6 June in Manhattan.
The Rum Lab’s ninth annual New York Rum Fest spans two days: an on-trade conference on Friday and a rum festival on Saturday.
The Friday event will take place at Corporate Suites, 880 Third Avenue, while Saturday’s tasting and seminar programme will continue at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea – marking the event’s return to Manhattan after two years in Brooklyn.
So far, the rum festival has sold more than 300 tickets and said it was on track to welcome more than 500 attendees each day.
Jeff Diego, founder and CEO of Helmsman Imports and a partner at Brazilian cachaça brand Avuá, commented: “Rum is the category in spirits where the gap between commercial opportunity and consumer vocabulary is widest, and Helmsman is investing in closing it. The producers driving the category’s premium turn deserve an importer that operates at their level.”
Under the Helmsman Imports Academy initiative, Diego will also be a speaker during two sessions on 5 June: a seminar focusing on independent bottlers at 12.30pm, and Full-Body White Rums Become Liquid Gold at 1.30pm.
Diego’s participation in the conference is said to highlight what the company calls a ‘two-chair perspective’, one side being the importer, and the other being the producer, as seen in his work with Avuá Cachaça.
Why the right importer matters
Helmsman highlighted that the main challenge for premium rum is shelf legibility, not awareness. Unlike Bourbon, Scotch or agave spirits, which consumers can identify by region or category, premium rum lacks the same clarity, especially for producers beyond the Caribbean traditions, the company said.
A Mount Kanlaon-aged Filipino expression, a Guatemalan Highland-aged blend, a Costa Rican single estate rum, and an unaged Brazilian cachaça each tell a rich and premium story. However, according to the importer, consumers still tend to associate rum primarily with Caribbean tiki culture.
Helmsman Imports believes rum brands and US importers should focus on closing the gap by working on an account-by-account and trade-by-trade basis.
The company’s goal is to help sommeliers in the US to discuss non-Caribbean premium rums confidently and to help chain buyers communicate the value of aged Asian rums.
Helmsman Imports also encouraged bartenders to explore lesser-known styles to craft unique cocktails, even if consumers are unfamiliar with the terminology.
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