A dream between 4 mates – together with hip-hop legend Ja Rule – to create a spirit model grew to become actuality final 12 months. Now, the quartet are excited to introduce their honey botanical whiskey Amber & Opal to wider viewers.
A self-confessed non-whiskey drinker previous to Amber & Opal, Livin’ It Up hip-hop artist Ja Rule isn’t solely a model co-founder, however an instance of Amber & Opal’s target market.
“I actually can say that Amber & Opal is really my first expertise in indulging in whiskey, and having fun with whiskey as a beverage,” Ja Rule tells The Spirits Enterprise. “Up to now, I dabbled in different liquors, however I’m not a ‘whiskey drinker’ per se. Our model is an ideal introduction for folks like me – we prefer to name them the ‘whiskey curious’.
“I’m now a whiskey drinker. Amber & Opal has positively turned me on to whiskey in a means that I didn’t suppose was attainable for me.”
It’s a model born from long-term friendships with entrepreneurs and co-founders Herb Rice, Kelvin Barton and Sandy Sandiford. “We’re very excited to be doing this collectively as a gaggle of 4 bandits – banditos – from the ghettos of America,” laughs Ja Rule.
Amber & Opal made its debut in Maryland, US, in 2024, created on the Baltimore Spirits Firm distillery. Following a heat reception in Maryland, the honey botanical whiskey is now out there in New York, California, New Jersey and Florida, and on-line all through the US through seelbachs.com, and at choose Whole Wine places in sure markets. Extra states are set to comply with within the coming months – and the group is happy about bringing new drinks alongside for the journey.
With the latest roll out, Ja Rule hyperlinks seeing Amber & Opal on cabinets to listening to his songs on the radio for the primary time. Seeing Amber & Opal out within the wild nonetheless additionally feels dream-like for Sandiford: “It’s loopy to look at [it grow] from inception and now to see it on cabinets. Like, you should purchase it. You may contact it. That is actual. I needed to sit again a minute a couple of weeks in the past and I used to be like, ‘Is that this one thing that’s actually occurring?’”
“The pure tendency is to wish to get out to each state and get in as many shops as attainable,” Rice continues. “We’ve taken a really methodical strategy, and we’re very focused in markets we wish to launch in. We wish to host activations, we wish to get a possibility to get in entrance of individuals, to inform our story about Amber & Opal, to have the ability to make Ja get behind the bar and make drinks for folks, you realize, actually create experiences for folk.”
Is Ja Rule a secret cocktail maestro? The jury’s out…
“I’m the most effective; there’s nobody like me – one among one,” he shouts, over robust, “no, no”, from his mates and co-founders.
Amber & Opal blends Maryland Straight Rye Whiskey, which has been aged for 2 years in medium-charred oak barrels, with flavours of orange blossom honey, smoky black tea, and spiced natural notes of cinnamon, ginger and fig.
Utilizing rye whiskey as the bottom was a no brainer for co-founder Rice, a long-time whiskey drinker with explicit penchant for rye.
“I drink all kinds of whiskey; rye occurs to be my favorite. However I’ll dabble in a very good Scotch or a very good Bourbon,” he says. “After we have been creating this product, we knew we needed to create one thing that was flavourful. We knew that going into the crowded whiskey class, we needed to do one thing to tell apart and differentiate ourselves from the hundreds of different manufacturers that have been on present. We knew that flavour was going to be the factor that was going to separate us and we knew that the rye mix would actually go properly with honey and the botanicals that we use to infuse the product.”
Amber & Opal’s identify was additionally chosen to replicate key qualities the model holds expensive. ‘Amber’ to signify custom and heat, and ‘Opal’ to have fun range and vibrancy. Created to be sipped neat, on the rocks or blended in cocktails, the co-founders hope to democratise the whiskey area additional with Amber & Opal’s “versatility”.
Bringing extra folks of color into whiskey
“We went into this figuring out the whiskey class has historically been dominated by older white males,” says Rice. “There’s not a tonne of range in that area. So, what we needed to do, was create a product that had 4 Black guys because the face of it, however we needed to create a product that was, to Ja’s level, a degree of entry; one thing that wouldn’t be off-putting for those that historically hadn’t drank whiskey. For lots of people, their first expertise with whiskey wasn’t nice. We needed to alter that narrative, to make one thing extra approachable, much less intimidating. We needed to carry extra folks of color on board, carry extra girls on board, and alter the face of the whiskey class.”
Ja Rule provides: “Usually, whiskey has been marketed for white males, aesthetically businessmen, you realize, golfers. We needed to shift that. That shift is definitely occurring proper in entrance of our very eyes. As you see different whiskey manufacturers breaking into the enterprise, you see Beyoncé’s SirDavis coming into the enterprise, lots extra girls coming to the fold.”
The spirits sector has seen a excessive inflow of celebrity-backed and based manufacturers in the previous couple of years, from Brother’s Bond Bourbon, co-founded by The Vampire Diaries actors Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder, and Teremana Tequila, co-founded by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, as simply two examples.
Nevertheless, Ja Rule – regardless of his superstar standing – is obvious he doesn’t need Amber & Opal to be seen as simply one other “superstar model”. Opening up the whiskey class to extra folks of color, extra girls, and extra ‘whiskey curious’ drinkers is what he hopes Amber & Opal can be identified for.
“Have a look at what Fawn Weaver has been capable of do along with her model and the nod to Uncle Nearest, and the entire story behind it, and what they’ve been capable of do in a brief area of time,” Ja Rule says. “We’re champions of our tradition and of our communities. And so, we’re all the time completely happy to see others doing it, particularly girls of color. So, huge as much as their manufacturers.”
For Sandiford, he believes American whiskey is on the cusp of changing into the spirit of selection, following within the footsteps of gin, vodka and Tequila booms.
“I consider that is whiskey’s flip,” he states. “I’m completely happy to be on the forefront of it, particularly being males of color. We didn’t have many males of color, or folks of color [in whiskey]. Like my brothers mentioned, now we have Beyoncé, which brings extra mild to us. And I believe it helps us catapult ourselves to the place we’re going. The model has been rising tremendously. We’ve been getting loads of traction and I’m completely happy to see the place we’re going and the place we’ll finish. It’s a ravishing trip.”
Ja Rule isn’t naïve to the advantages his fame additionally affords the model, nonetheless. “We’re not going to take a seat there and be naïve and sit in our perks,” he provides. “However we wish to take a extra natural strategy. So folks, after they see the model, they don’t see it as a star model. They see it as a model first, after which it occurs to be owned by [a celebrity]. That’s the assertion we wish to make.”
The place music and whiskey meet
Ja Rule’s music business expertise can also be serving to to construct the model’s technique. He attracts parallels between market development in music to clarify why New York, New Jersey, California and Florida have been chosen as the subsequent market launches.
“I take a look at issues on how I’ve been very profitable in music,” he explains. “So, in the event you take a look at a market like California, it’s the identical [in music and whiskey]. If you are able to do properly in California, in Los Angeles, it’ll trickle right down to San Diego, Oakland, San Francisco. Similar factor on the East Coast. If you are able to do properly in New York, you possibly can trickle right down to New Jersey, Virginia, Baltimore, DC. It’s the identical as it’s for music. In the event you was on the radio in New York Metropolis, you’ll get the trickle down. In the event you was on the radio in Los Angeles, you’ll get the trickle down. I really feel the identical means with alcohol in some facet. If we personal these markets, we’ll get these different trickle-down markets to say: ‘We want this beverage,’ and we will department out.”
Sticking with music, if the trio may share Amber & Opal with any musician, lifeless or alive, who wouldn’t it be?
Rice, fast to reply, says: “I might love to take a seat down and simply have a toast with Marvin Gaye, and speak about life within the US throughout his time, particularly as a Black man rising up throughout these occasions when he was standard and simply the wrestle. That’d be an fascinating dialog over a glass of whiskey.”
Sandiford picks Bob Marley, whereas Ja Rule says: “I might most likely choose, as I’m taking a look at his portray on the wall, my man, Jimi Hendrix,” two solutions that end in an eruption of laughter from all three. However some discussions that occur on the Zoom name have to remain on the Zoom name. What’s obvious, although, is Amber & Opal is a whiskey model born out of entrepreneurial spirit, friendship and a love of neighborhood. It is a model able to pour some enjoyable again into whiskey – and it’s solely getting began.
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