Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/326040
6 / the tasting panel / june 2014 UP To sit and chat with Chris Blackwell is a rare opportunity for any music lover: He can recall, without a moment's hesitation, the first time he heard U2 perform, in a tiny pub filled with 12 people. He recounts spending weeks in New Orleans in the 1950s, basking in the city's musical soul, and rattles off the classical music oeuvres his father exposed him to as a young boy. It's no surprise then to hear Blackwell quietly say, "Music touches everything. It touches everybody, and it's in everything." For those familiar with Blackwell's legacy as the founder of Island Records, the label that brought the music of Jamaica and Bob Marley to the world, it may come as a surprise to hear that Blackwell is trading gold records in pursuit of a different kind of gold —liquid gold, to be precise. But Blackwell Rum, the eponymous brand that's bringing the beauty of Jamaican dark rum stateside, is anything but a random, celebrity-backed brand: "Everything I do has Jamaica in the background," says Blackwell. "It's in my heart, always." Up Front with Blackwell Rum by Rachel Burkons / photos by Cal Bingham Chris Blackwell's Blackwell Rum is poised to take the world by storm. TP0614_001-33.indd 6 5/23/14 8:29 PM