Bayou Reserve

A bayou is a slow-moving creek or a swampy section of a river or a lake, like the Mississippi Delta. In Louisiana, the wild alligator population is estimated to be around one million. The predator, measuring four meters in length and weighing three hundred kilograms, will devour anything that doesn't eat it first. Nevertheless, human fatalities are exceptionally uncommon, with only 15 reported deaths in the United States over a span of 60 years.

In a regrettable twist of fate, instead of playing dead, take a stand and fight back. Attempt to open the jaws is gonna fail. You'd be better off with the most popular karate punch by thrusting both index and middle fingers directly into the reptile's eyes. While success is not guaranteed, the odds are in your favor, as only 4% of bites result in tragic outcomes. And I mean by that a human perspective, because alligator will gracefully move away. In addition, specialists recommend to give up swimming in the pool currently occupied by a reptilian intruder. The Bayou's logo alligator devours sugar cane and it's kind of scary what it takes to work at plantations. 🐊

Louis XIV famously declared, "L'État, c'est moi," meaning "I am the State." No wonder the French colony was named Louisiana in his honor. However, due to challenging geopolitical circumstances, Napoleon reluctantly made the decision to sell it back to the Americans. The purchase of a vast land area extending from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and from the Rocky Mountains to Appalachia, totaling fifteen million dollars, stands as the largest real estate acquisition in history. With an astonishingly low price of three cents per acre, the United States effectively doubled its territory.

Despite its significant reduction in size, the present-day state of Louisiana yields nearly fifteen thousand tons of sugar cane annually. In 2011, during a duck hunting trip, the Laytel brothers and their colleague Skip Cortese had a moment of inspiration that led to the establishment of the Louisiana Spirits distillery. The founding idea, depicted in such a manner, evokes me crying. 🦆

Anyways, five years later the Stoli® Group takes over the US distribution of Bayou, and after another three years buys the US brand completely. The expansion is truly remarkable, as rum featuring an alligator is now not only available in 7 states but also in 38 countries, with sales volume experiencing significant growth. Given that the SPI Group, the largest exporter of Russian vodka in the world, operates in 160 markets and represents 380 brands, it is highly likely that this is just the beginning and there is much more to come.

The rum is made with raw unrefined sugar from the fields around Lacassine and Iberia Parish. Molasses come from the oldest and still operating sugar factory in the US (M.A. Patout & Son). Fermentation takes between 28 and 30 hours. Bayou is distilled in a traditional pot still. The rum is then placed for three years in 200 liter ex-bourbon barrels (Buffalo Trace, Jim Beam, Four Roses). Americans use the solera system and the barrels are arranged in a pyramid. The bottling process involves starting from the bottom layer and replenishing any loss with the contents from the layers above. Each year, Louisiana's subtropical climate captures 8.5% of the rum produced as its "angel's share."