Many of us had dreams of running an alcohol business when we were in college, but for most, those thoughts remained just that…dreams. Society told us to go out and get a “real” job and our brewing or distilling aspirations fell by the wayside. However, there’s one awesome guy in Kentucky that has given us hope: retired pharmacist, Tony Chase, is opening his own micro-distillery.
Chase, a 35-year resident of Kentucky, went to Daufuskie Island in South Carolina last summer to look for a place to retire. He wanted to retire from his job, but he didn’t necessarily like the idea of not working anymore. Channeling his pharmacist concocting and mixing skills, he decided to open a micro-distillery on the island. Naturally, being from Kentucky, his first thought was to make bourbon. He quickly realized that it would probably be sacrilegious to make bourbon outside of Kentucky and scrapped that idea. He ultimately decided that he wanted to give rum a try and the Daufuskie Island Rum Co. was born.
According to Chase, his brand new micro distillery will open sometime early next year. The distillery is going to have a 500-square-foot porch overlooking a one-acre pond on the property where people can enjoy the island life while sipping rum. Retirement doesn’t sound too bad.
Chase says his company is only going to use ingredients made in the United States; the sugar he’ll use will be from 10.25 acres of land on the island that is being used to grow sugar cane. It takes about two years for the sugar cane to be fully grown. There’s already big interest in the retiree’s micro distillery, even though he won’t start making the rum until early next year. Distributors in the local area have started to reach out to Chase which is practically unheard of, considering the rum won’t be produced for a while.
The moral of the story? Retirement really is the stuff dreams are made of. It’s a lot easier to get through the workday when you tell yourself that you’re doing it to save up for your own distillery.