Every Successful Brand Has a Successful Backstory

Tom Maas did what many people do during retirement: He found something to occupy his time. But, unlike most retirees, his pet project turned into an entirely new business. RumChata, now ten years old, has evolved into an increasingly popular cream liqueur.

“The flavor is based on Mexican horchata,” explains Maas. “I didn’t know what it was until I had worked with focus groups at Jim Beam as director of bourbon worldwide.” While engaging with the focus groups, those from south of the border joked they would drink bourbon if it was mixed with horchata.

And then, one year later, after Maas retired from his position at Jim Beam, he happened across a taco stand with his son, who suggested he try horchata. He did, and—he loved it.

Maas went to work in his kitchen mixing horchata flavors into spirits, but rum proved superior to bourbon and all the rest. Although he first considered selling the recipe to a large liquor company, its popularity among his friends and family led his wife to encourage him to sell it on his own. (Of course, Maas jokingly remarks that his wife might have been just trying to get him out of the house.)

A short while later, Maas bumped into a friend who mentioned he had just trademarked the RumChata name for no other reason than because it sounded cool. Maas naturally responded, “Well, that’s a great name for a product I just invented.”

He then went to his father, a retired production engineer who convinced him that operating his own plant would make it easier to guarantee cleanliness, which is necessary for a cream liqueur. “My dad, who was 80 at the time, wanted to run it. He said, “I have nothing to do, and I’m going crazy.”

So in 2009, the idea sparked by a taco lunch with his son turned into a RumChata production at the hands of Maas’ retired father.

Maas initially figured he could sell RumChata to Mexican restaurants, but they only wanted authentic horchata. Instead, Maas was told by most who tasted it, that RumChata reminded them of the leftover milk in the bottom of the bowl after eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal.

He agreed.

Maas proceeded to purchase single servings of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and asked bartenders to give the cereal away with the shot. Bartenders took that idea and, to boost the proof, added Fireball. And with that shot, RumChata was a hit. Next, Maas wanted to appeal to the over-35 crowd, so he created FrappaChata, a blend of coffee and RumChata, making it the first (and only) premium alcoholic iced coffee.

RumChata has one-third less butterfat than popular cream liqueurs, which prevents it from weighing heavy on a drinker, and one of the reasons it works so well as a shot, in coffee, neat, or a cocktail.

In the end, Maas explained: "If you look at the creams that have come out since we came out, RumChata really brought vibrancy to the category."

By Matthew Powers