SWEET SYMPHONY

Meet Jazz De La Vega

Symphony No 3 Rum is doing something new.

When you think of rum, what comes to mind? Most likely tropical islands, pirates, and the Caribbean. Although Jamaica and other tropical places are best known for producing rum, they aren’t alone. What’s more, rum comes in many different forms, from flavored rum to mixer rum to more elegant, sipping rums. There’s a new rum in town that meets the spirit of the latter – Symphony No 3 Rum. Three friends – Jaaz de la Vega, Charles Genao, and Sam Hickman – had a passion, and came together to create a new aged rum. It’s entirely made in America from Florida sugar cane and bottled in Minnesota, with headquarters in New York City.

Raine Magazine had the opportunity to catch-up with Symphony No 3 cofounder Jaaz De La Vega, and asked some questions about this unique rum.

RAINE: What was the spark of creative inspiration that led you to co-found Symphony No.3 Rum?

JAAZ DE LA VEGA: We as a collective wanted to elevate the rum category. We feel with both the expressions - especially in the 3-year-old rye (barrels) - it can help to bring more value especially to cocktail programs.

RAINE: Who are your major creative/business inspirations?

VEGA Apple as a brand has been a staple in my mind as far as seeing a dream come true and over-deliver. Steve Jobs was an innovator and really changed our lives day in and out.

RAINE: If you could give one piece of advice for anyone starting a business, what would it be and why?

VEGATo love what you do daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly. Understand that nothing is built overnight and to lay the foundation you need to invest the sweat equity first.

RAINE: What’s something that Symphony No.3 Rum offers that other rums don’t? What makes it a unique product?

VEGA We market our brand as a USA-made product, made 100 percent from Floridian sugar cane. We do not associate ourselves with the Pirates of the Caribbean theme, but as a quality product. A classic cocktail such as an old fashioned should have Symphony No.3 aged in it because of the notes and the flavor profile.

We want to be treated as a serious brand, nothing tied to a celebrity endorsement or a particular trend.

RAINE: What are you doing to expand the product line and what do you want to see in the future?

VEGA We are growing through word of mouth. We feel that this has been our greatest achievement.

The overwhelming support has brought the brand to new heights, so we want to continue this organic path and keep on with our trajectory. We will continue aging our barrels but for the time being we are deep diving into the market to continue building brand awareness. This I feel builds the strategy we need long-term to have Symphony out there in both the on/off premise markets.