We have spent countless Summers watching the greats hit the baseball field and one of them was 3X World Series Champion, 10X All Star, David “Big Papi” Ortiz who was the DH for the Boston Red Sox. As a Franchise Royalty at the Sox, #34 was retired by the club in 2017 and he remains a beloved fixture in Boston sports culture where he played 14 seasons and is the 11th in the organization to have his number in Fenway Park! He continues his love for the team by mentoring players on the team and assisting with development. You can also catch him as an analyst for FOX Sports MLB as Big Papi is loved by all!
This month’s cover star continues to forge ahead, we sat with him at the Mandarin Oriental’s MO Lounge to talk about Ozama Rum, a Dominican spirit brand with 3 expressions. We talk about his career, baseball, his work as a sports broadcaster as an analyst, his love for the DR, being a family man, his legacy, being on the Masked Singer, and the impact of Ozama within the beverage industry and the DR.
DAVID ORTIZ: So how’s it going?
AM: Great! We are excited to be with you as we have loved seeing you play. When you’re doing your analyst work, it’s awesome to hear you bring us into the game, and we’ve been such a fan from the start of your career. It’s excting to talk to you about baseball, your career, and Ozama as we enjoy Dominican rum and I know our readers/community will be excited as well!
DAVID ORTIZ: Thank you!
AM: When did you first fall in love with baseball and when did you realize that you wanted to play professionally?
DO: Well, I have been playing baseball ever since I can remember at 6 or 7. I remember that my dad (Editor’s Note: Américo Enrique “Leo” Ortiz was a former semi-professional baseball player in the Dominican Republic), he was the one that always had that vision you know? He used to be a baseball player - for sure he didn’t make it to the pros. He was very close, but all he dreamed about was having a son to play baseball. He always pushed me down that path. He thought I had the talent, he thought I had the good hands and the coordination, which is important. He pushed me. I love sports. Basketball was the one thing that I always admired, you know? And it was fun. Basketball was fun – going to the court and playing with your boys, you know? You can be organized or unorganized!
AM: Yeah.
DO: Baseball is more organized for when you have to play as a group, you know? Everybody need to be -
AM: In sync
DO: Yes, in line! Basketball, you can pick people from the street, let’s play. You know? And you just go for it!
But when I turned 13 or 14, I started getting serious about baseball.
AM: Wow!
DO: Since I started developing this, it was about the progress.
AM: Being in college watching you play was when we first saw you on the scene. It was like ‘97, ‘98, and we used watch across our dorm. You could see your energy, and just to see the passion that you have. It was a thrill.
You’re a 3X World Series Champ, 10X All-Star, you were inducted into the Hall of Fame, and that’s just some of your achievements. What has it meant to you to play this game?
DO: This game was my everything! You know, it’s different. It’s what I wanted to do. It was basically my way out for me and my family and for them to be in a better shape, you know? Baseball was my everything,
it’s still my everything. Even after I retired, you know, I still deal with our organization (Editor’s Note: David continues to have a deeply integrated and multifacted relationship with the Boston Red Sox. He is an official mentor and advisor who works with rising prospects and established stars by offering guidance, sharing baseball wisdom and weighs in on clubhouse dynamics. He also has an unprecedented and long-term agreement to actively represent the club in special appearances, assists with free agent recruitment, and works in business development for Fenway Sports Management). The organization, the work that I do on TV, I mean, everything I do is basically related to it.
AM: Why did you want to become an analyst? Regardless of the teams that are playing, even if it’s not the ones we’re following specifically, we love watching you talk about the game because there’s such a passion as well as having that insight as a player that makes it so exciting.
DO: Well, you don’t know what you don’t know.
AM: Right!
DO: My team came to me while I was playing it still and they want to try me out. FOX wanted to try me out. I’m not going to lie to you, I was a little nervous! When you are outspoken and then you have to go all of a sudden go on TV and control yourself, control your emotions - at the beginning, it was a little rough. But once you get used to it, you just go through the flow.
You know, referring to the players, talking to the fans, you always have to keep in mind that there’s always people watching - people listening.
AM: Yeah
DO: They’re paying attention. English is my second language, so at the beginning, it was a little –
AM: Right.
DO: But then, I guess I was blessed working with the right team. Those guys made me feel so comfortable. It’s like a conversation between friends, you know? Now, all of a sudden, I’m 8 years into the business and I love it. I love it. I love entertaining. I love having fun. I love passing information. There’s a lot of great hands, lots of talents and I always wanted to be the one that gives these guys some guidance. I want to pass some information to the fans, you know, it’s fun.
AM: Are there 3 teams that we should have our eye out for the season or 3 players? What are you looking for or excited about this season?
DO: Well, I’m pretty sure everybody is looking at the Dodgers who have won back to back these past couple of years. It’ll be interesting to see if they can do it again!
AM: Yep.
DO: They have their platform, they have their team, they have the players, they have the owner, and they have a great manager - my boy, Dave Roberts. They’re on fire already so, we’ll see. That’s hard to do.
AM: Yeah.
DO: We faced some situations at the Red Sox the other day where our manager Alex Cora, got fired. Great manager, good dude - we play together. We’ll see how we continue moving forward.
Unfortunately, you always have to talk about the Yankees ha ha.
AM: That is our team! We love you, but that is our team.
DO: You know, the Yankees is the other team that continues to chase. I mean, the Yankees haven’t won a World Series in 17 years. But I still give credit to the Yankees because winning is not easy. People think that because of the name, you’re gonna win eventually.
AM: Right.
DO: Well, for the Yankees, they invest money. They hire good players, and they always put a quality team out there. Sometimes, towards the end of the season, you feel like you need a little more and more and more. That’s when you realize it’s about putting things together for the fans to enjoy, you know? It is what it is, but the Dodgers are the one dominating!
AM: That’s facts.
We should also try the rum expressions. We know you had a rough night last night. (Editor’s note, we began cracking into Ozama starting with Ozama Blanco, then Ozama Añejo, and finished with Gran Añejo as we talked with David.)
DO: I’ll be watching now.
AM: Okay ha!
Well, we have been enjoying this for the last few weeks.
DO: For real?
AM: Oh yeah! We love Dominican Rum, as a category since we were introduced to it back in 2011, when we would go to Santo Domingo.
DO: Yeah.
AM: That’s when we first learned about the 3 B’s (Editor’s Note: The 3 Bs are the 3 most famous historic rum brands from the Dominican Republic: Bermudez the oldest which launched in 1852, Barceló was founded in 1930, and Brugal founded in 1888 which is the largest domestic producer in the Dominican Republic). We were down for that. Then, when we were sent this, we realized it was very smooth and that it was your brand, we were even more excited!
DO: I’m glad you enjoyed.
AM: Yes, and sipping it now, it’s very tasty.
So, you’re a busy man. You are always doing lots of things. What are 3 workouts that you do just to stay in shape and to keep it all together?
DO: You know, so at the end last year, I needed a knee surgery badly. So being busy and having an injury to my knee, I basically wasn’t able to work out. I do a lot of walking. In front of my house, I have been living in DR for the past 3 years.
My old man passed last year. I moved to the Dominican 3 years ago just so that I could be around and to be with him. I was living in Miami.
AM: We’re sorry to hear that.
DO: Yeah, it was hard.
But anyway, I live in the Dominican, you know? And it was good because we had the production over there. We do a lot of activation over there. We are working on promoting the rum and other stuff. I work for so many companies.
AM: You are busy.
DO: Yeah and this guy is keeping me even busier, but I love him. I like to stay healthy. When I’m at home, in front of my house, I have a park like Central Park.
AM: Wow!
DO: So, I do a lot of walking, riding bikes, going to the gym, you know - pop some weight.
That’s what kept me in shape for real. My son, my younger one!
AM: Oh, all that running around!
DO: He’s 2 years old. He know he owns me. I am getting married next year and that little guy, you know, I have 5 kids. But this one, he knows something. He is very smart and his name is Diego. He knows that Daddy, is all about him. So when I’m at home, I’m at home.
AM: Yeah.
DO: That’s him right there!
AM: OMG!
RW: He’s the best dressed, 2 year old like!
DO: That’s him playing baseball already.
AM: That is the cutest! So yes, that is a workout!
DO: I love my family, you know? I’m a family guy.
AM: Masked Singer is one of our favorite shows!
DO: Uh oh!
AM: We knew Googly Eyes was you from, like the first note you sang before they even unmasked you. And it was like, wait that’s Big Papi that can only be him! Of course, when they unmasked you it was like – it couldn’t be anyone else but him!
How did you get connected to that show and why did you want to do it? Obviously, you’re part of the FOX family but how did it go down?
DO: Ha ha! I didn’t know what I was walking into! My agent called me and he was like, David there’s an opportunity. I’m like, really, what’s going on? Well, we already up in LA.
AM: Yeah.
DO: It was during the playoffs.
AM: Yeah.
DO: When we were in the playoffs, I had to go to LA for about a month. We stay there the whole month, but then we have to travel to different cities.
AM: Yeah.
DO: It was getting closer to the World Series. The Masked Singer people they had an issue with somebody, and they need somebody to replace that person or something like that. They only need you for like 4 hours. I’m always hustling and somebody has to pay the bills ha ha. But I had so much fun doing it.
AM: It was so good!
DO: I had no clue!
AM: Right!
DO: First of all, they said, you gotta sing a song that you know.
AM: Yeah.
DO: I’m like, what? I’m the worst singer than everybody. They were like, “don’t worry, we will get you a song that you can have fun and you don’t have to go through all the crazy lyrics or whatever. That’s why we came out with, Turn Down For What! Yo and I had so much fun, but then at the time, I had a knee problem. What they did is that they put together an outfit –
AM: Googly Eyes!
DO: I was sitting on in and I just gotta push it.
AM: Yeah, because when it came out, you just saw this really structured item come out to the stage.
DO: It was like a workout, because when I got out of that, I was sweating bullets.
AM: Everyone says that their costumes are so hot and you can tell when they unveil you guys! You always wonder if someone is going to pass out!
DO: Yeah, I was dripping!
AM: Well it was a fun performance, you could see the crowd was so excited when you came out and it definitely looked like it was a lot of fun.
DO: It was fun. It was fun. People were like, “who’s that was that Derek Jeter?” I was like, have you ever heard a Dominican person speak English? Ha Ha we’ve got a strong accent!
AM: Yeah when someone said Jeter, we were like no! The first lyric that you belted out that was you without a doubt! The panel needed to sit down because the guesses didn’t make sense!
DO: I know right?
AM: So, why did you want to launch a rum brand? Like, you said, you’re a busy man. You’re always doing lots of projects. But why did you want to launch Ozama and what led up to that?
DO: Yeah, as a kid growing up, my father was a hard working man, my mama as well. But I noticed that when it was the weekend when my dad was able to be at home, he used to bring friends. They used to drink rum. It was very traditional in my family, you know? Growing up in that beautiful environment, you know, we were poor. We didn’t have much. But with the family, it was always this happy reunion! People that don’t have anything crazy, but whatever they have they enjoy, you know?
And that is always what keeps people together.
AM: Wow!
DO: It was a happy time. I was just a kid just watching the adults having a drink, having fun. I used to have an uncle after he started to have a few drinks, he’s start throwing quarters to all of us. That was the most fun part for the kids. My uncle got a little tipsy he was, like, hey, come here. Guys come here. We were just fighting for it you know?
AM: You gotta add it to that piggy bank!
DO: You know it ha ha.
You will never believe it until you see it - how you can do so much and not have so much.
AM: Yeah.
DO: Besides that memory. When I grew up, Ozama on the other hand, my dad used to talk about this story about him going across the river swimming. My dad was a good swimmer. You swing across the river, but then you gotta swim back. He swims, they used to go on the other side, and they started cooking around the river, and then later on, they gotta swim back.
AM: Oh!
DO: On the other side, they started talking about the story about this shark that used to go across the river. I was like, oh hell, no, I’m not swimming back. I had to wait for the boat to bring me back.
He took me back. It was so funny. I used to go to the Ozama River with my boys and we used to go fishing crab right here. The river was very healthy, beautiful, clear water. We had so much fun down there. I don’t know how to swim, so I was the one that used to do the packaging! Because they used to fish it, bring it, and then I would do the packaging. We used to be like 10 kids. We used to have a spear to hunt it. They used to go into the water. They used to take those spears, hunt it, Bring it back up, pass it to me, and I used to put them in the bag.
Once we had hundreds of them, then we used to go home. But it was, the most athletic, friendly, and fun. It could be a little bit dangerous. I never used to chase. Since I was a kid, I was very mature about not chasing dangers. Like, one time they wanted me to attach this rope with 2 gallon containers and put them across my chest for me to go across the river.
I was going to do it or whatever, but then I was like mom and dad ain’t around? I’m not gonna mess that up, just in case something goes down.
AM: Right!
DO: Then all of a sudden, something is missing. I’ll just do the packaging and you can bring it. They’d say, “you’re a chicken – a chicken,” and I’d say, “yes, I am!”
AM: Love this story and that answers why the crab is on the bottle!
DO: I’m telling you that I was 10 or 11 years old! Those are the memories that I have from the Great River now, unfortunately, it seems like as the population has grown up, things start you know to go down in a different direction. Once we start coming out with this product, I want to call attention to cleaning that river.
AM: Like a conservation effort!
DO: Yes, out of the profits we will donate a percentage. We are, you know, taking that percentage to be able to clean up the river. Once people know that my name is attached to this and the purpose, beside the business side - a lot of companies that are international and are outside of Dominican - they are into helping us out with some of the rivers.
AM: Yeah.
DO: We are all behind this. Besides that, we created so many jobs for single moms with kids back home at the factory. They do the packaging for Ozama. Ozama Is in charge of creating the jobs. I think that all of the forces behind Ozama are pointed in the right direction. That’s the way I look at it.
AM: Wow.
DO: It took us 1.5 - 2 years to come out with a with a blender who took their time before we came up with this amazing, great tasting rum in 3 different categories. Our Blanco is so smooth that when you mix it out, especially you ladies who have a different taste than as us as a man, we put that white rum together. When you mix it with juice or any type of thing, you will get away with it because it tastes very smooth. Then you go to the Gran Añejo and the Añejo, it’s a little older aging wise. It’s my favorite.
AM: Ours as well!
DO: Oh for real?
AM: Absolutely!
DO: You know what though? There’s no difference for me when it comes down to drinking whatever I have available. You know it’s just I think the time and the effort that you put behind this rum which is worth it! The feedback from people has been amazing! Let me tell you, you’re making a run in a country that is known for Dominican rum.
AM: Agreed! We raised our eyebrow before we had it because I’ve been drinking Brugal for awhile and I was a very big fan of it. Then, I had Ozama and it reminded us when we would go to Santa Domingo and sit on our balcony sipping, and it takes us back every single time we drink it.
DO: So, yeah, when you talk about those brands have been out there already for a long time day, throughout the year, they have to come out with high quality rum so they can stay established in the market. They make rum for individuals – minorities, middle-class people, high-end people, etc It all depends on how deep your focus is.
We think with Ozama, We make premium rum affordable. It’s a good price with a good quality.
AM: Yeah!
DO: Because, we are a startup. The company is just beginning and you want to be able to have everybody in the market, to be able to to afford it. So that’s what we have at this point and like, I say, the feedback have been amazing. That’s what I care about when I get behind a product. I have a quality product so, we can maintain ourselves out there.
The one thing that I wanna really emphasize with my partner? Was, let’s make a quality rum that I can compete with everybody out there.
AM: Yeah, we think it does and the packaging is beautiful. It can sit on that bar cart next to very expensive bottles, and it says I’m here.
DO: That’s right, we got this design from Italy. They make our bottles. He has been doing an amazing job of putting it together at the beginning. As you can see, the beautiful design of this bottle - it took us a bit to put it together. Last year, selling wise. I think we did a phenomenal job based on people waiting for it – right Ricky?
RW: Yes.
DO: So, it was like 7,000 – 10,000 cases last year to begin with. This year, we’re on our way to do even better. We’re chasing it up. We’re chasing it. We got the heart, we got the dedication, and I’m so excited to get behind this product. It basically connects with my family, my tradition, you know? So many stories are behind this. The most important thing is to connect with the people.
RW: As David was saying, when people try this, they don’t say no. It’s very delicious and then, when people hear that, it’s $24.99 on the shelf –
AM: Which is an amazing price point because the bottle visually makes you feel like it’s a $60 or $80 bottle.
RW: To be able to get a quality product in a quality rum like this, for $25, you go to Total Wine, this is $24.99 on the shelf. This one at 6 years aged, Ozama Gran Añejo is $45.
We also just won the Gold Medal design for our rum bottle design!
AM: That’s fantastic! The bottle really gives you that river vibe.
So, consumer side for this summer, where will Ozama pop out?
RW: Today, we are live in all of the Northeast – NY and in all of New England. We are in New Orleans, Pennsylvania, Florida, and the DR. It’s available online and 43 states as some we can’t ship to. It’s available everywhere. We have a team in place in all of the key markets whose sole focus is driving trial and activating out in the market. The majority of my team works Tuesday – Saturday.
AM: As you do!
RW: Aside from us in the industry, not as much booze is sold on Monday. They’re out there in Boston, New York, New Jersey, and Florida. They’re putting this out there, sampling it. We have been at some of the festivals here.
AM: David, what do you want your legacy to be known as whether it’s in the sport, as a business man, or as a family man?
DO: The way I live my life is based on a journey. Baseball was a journey and I am thankful to God for everything as he opened many doors for me. I want to be remembered as the greatest dad, the greatest father of all time, because I am crazy about my kids. I’m great to all of my family. Yesterday, I was with my younger daughter. She lives here. She’s a musician. She graduated from Berklee College of Music a couple of years ago, living here, trying to figure it out.
AM: Is she a singer, does she play an instrument?
DO: She can sing, she plays instruments, and she’s a producer!
AM: Oh, wow!
DO: I mean, when you go to Berklee they make sure that you change the whole packaging! And once you do that, as you move - if you go, you kind of figure out what you’re going to be really good at. Sometimes you got to be good at everything. Sometimes you get to be good at producing. Sometimes you get to be good. So, she’s down that path right now.
I came in and I told her I’d be with her for the next 3 days. We’re gonna go to places, I want you to meet people. You know how you girls are, especially when you have had a connection with your mom and with your dad? My kids, the way I look at them is like they’re still babies to me.
AM: Yeah.
DO: She’s been having so much fun the past 3 days having me around. Those are the sort of things that I really want in life, you know? Just to continue with the legacy of my father and my mom. They raised me right. They taught me how to get things done the right way. That’s what I try to teach the kids you know?
Then there is the rum and the cigars. Especially the cigars. My dad was very involved into that. My dad had his own factory. We do a lot of events and people come by as you know how rum and cigars go hand in hand!
5 years ago, he came out with Americo Cigars, really good cigars. So? When we are basically going place by place, we try to use the mark also for the cigar brand. It has been incredible for people and the combination of Rum and a good cigar is almost perfect, you know? It’s like they are cousins or something! I’m a visionary and this startup company is something I care about and I am a hard working man, that’s all that I know!
I’ve been working since I was 8 years old. I have an uncle who had an auto place. And all of us, my whole family - they used to get us as a kid and bring us to the auto part place whenever we have free time, to work with our uncle. That was kind of a mandatory in the family. And when you’re a kid, you don’t know. But now that I’m a grown man, I see the purpose of it.in my family, nobody’s doing time. Everybody works hard, we have this beautiful family and I’m talking about the guys of my generation. They know how to work, how to go through process, and when we sit down now that we are adults and talk about it, we understand it, so we want to do exactly the same thing with our kids.
Especially nowadays, it is so hard to raise a child with all of this crazy stuff happening, but I think that what you learn at home, it’s the meaning of the direction that you want to take growing up.
I have 5 kids. The older are professional. They play baseball at the professional level. My older, who is married, Jessica, she graduated at Regis College in Boston, in Psychology and Administration and she lives in the Dominican with her husband. I talked to you guys about Alice already. Then there is David, and. D’Angelo. David plays for the Texas Rangers. D’Angelo plays for the Red Sox.
AM: Wow!
DO: Diego is my other guy to chase now ha ha. You know what I’m saying?
AM: It’s been so phenomenal to meet you because we’ve loved your career and watching you play. We love how you just present yourself as a person, your passion, and we have tried for years to have you as an interview, but your schedule is definitely busy!
DO: If I knew this interview was going to be this smooth and good, I would have done it a long time ago!
AM: It’s awesome because we’re Yankees fans but have always have enjoyed seeing you play!
DO: A great story is all my employees are Yankees fan! I gotta deal with it.
AM: We wanted to be respectful ha!
DO: No it’s ok! Listen, I gotta tell you something. Yankee fans. They have been always very respectful with me because they know that as an athlete, I went about my business. I don’t care if you play for the Yankees, the Mets, Chicago, I was just trying to do my job. The Yankees fans respect that because the Yankees fans are the only fans that always come to me, and they be like, Papi, I’m a Yankees fan. I know you respect this because they know it was nothing but business. Nothing personal, you know, but I was going to whip your ass, nothing but business.
RW: Yeah, pretty good business!
DO: It’s what Yankees fans love seeing from a player. Because remember, the Yankees since I can remember they were the first ones doing what the Dodgers do nowadays. They always go for the best players because the boss, Steinbrenner always wanted to put a pin in the field. When the Yankees fans see that a guy is good and he plays for another team, all of a sudden you have the guy on your team performing. They respect that!
I love this city right here. This city gave me a lot of memories. I love competing against the Yankees and I will say this, when you are competing against the Yankees and you beat the Yankees - you get recognition as a player because you competing against the best! But at the end of the day, go Sox!
IG @davidortiz
In speaking with David about life, baseball, and Ozama, you also heard from Ricky Wolfe who is the VP of Sales at Ozama. Ricky comes with a strong background in the spirits industry. We also chatted with Edwin Castillo who is Ozama’s Rommelier. Together, they provide more insight on rum that is made in the Dominican, how Ozama came to be, the expressions, a bit of industry news, how they connected with David, and of course, talking about how the DR is also a prominent position within this partnership and venture.
RICKY WOLFE: If you guys want to taste the 3 expressions we have them here.
ATHLEISURE MAG: Let’s make it a proper meeting!
RW: Well there is no one better to taste it with than Edwin! He is our Chief Mixologist and he lives in the Dominican. He flew up for some of our events yesterday and some other things that we will be doing. He is the musician behind a lot of the cocktail program that we have. I’m sure that you are familiar with a Sommelier.
Well, he is a Rummelier – which is the pin on his lapel and he is classically trained in rum!
I am the VP of Sales team for Ozama. My father, Abbott Wolfe (Founder and CEO of Drink2Success) and David are business partners and created Ozama together.
AM: How long did it take for you to come up with the formulation?
EDWIN CASTILLO: The most important thing that you need to know about Ozama is that our rum is 100% Dominican. We have a different kind of rum that what others use in the Dominican and we use 100% Dominican sugarcane. A lot of rum in the Dominican uses molasses. Molasses is different with its aromas, and it is not easy to drink as you need some mixers.
AM: Right.
EC: The rum is made with a honey version of sugarcane and it is very refreshing.
AM: It is very smooth!
EC: You don’t need a mixer, you can drink it very neat!
AM: We have enjoyed it that way!
EC: Other rum in the Dominican in terms of aging, it’s 1 oak in American – it’s Bourbon. We use 2 oak – it’s Bourbon and a Cherry Cask. This way, our rum has more aroma.
AM: The first time we enjoyed Dominican Rum, it was in 2011 and was introduced to Brugal first. It was very tasty and has been a spirit that is always enjoyable. Molasses is an ingredient that we enjoy, but we do agree with you that this is such a great sip and it is very enjoyable, smooth and it’s great to drink by itself. Sugarcane is another ingredient that we’re fans of as it’s amazing in sodas.
EC: Brugal is made with molasses.
RW: Both of them are sweet in a good way. But it’s a very different profile. When people taste them side by side, molasses is thick, and it’s just like honey. But sugarcane is just a different taste.
AM: What year was it created?
RW: We launched last year. The project has been going on for a few years now. David and my father connected sometime in 2023 and it took obviously a lot of time. Everything about this was created by us - by the small team. I mean, the name, the package design, the label, the glass bottle - the liquid obviously.
AM: Your family was in the business before this too?
RW: Yeah! So, my, my father and I have both been in beverage alcohol for many, many years. My father was at Constellation Brand for a very long time.
And then his last, his last job before this, he helped Cameron Diaz (Charlie’s Angels franchise, Bad Teacher, There’s Something About Mary) and Katherine Power (Founder of MERIT Beauty, Versed Skincare, Who What Wear) build Avaline?
AM: Yeah, oh wow!
RW: It’s a clean, organic wine, so that was really his first foray if you will, into both startup and celebrity backed brands.
So, him and David connected through a mutual connection. David has always wanted to do something like this. David knows many, many things, but he didn’t know the alcohol industry, so that’s where we came in. I was at Boston Beer, Sam Adams for almost 14 years. Once my father and David got this off the ground, I jumped in to the deep end.
AM: That’s amazing. We were talking a bunch with the Truly team when they started.
RW: Oh, yes!
AM: We got to see them kind of rise year by year. It was pretty damn cool!
RW: I remember I was managing Maryland at the time - living in Baltimore, and we were a test market for Truly.
AM: Oh wow!
RW: I remember vividly standing in front of our Distributor Sales Meetings which are always at 7am in the morning on a Friday.
AM: Because, why not?
RW: Why not?
I vividly remember standing up in front of them, saying, I’m gonna tell you guys about this thing called Truly - Hard Sparkling Water. We may never talk about it again, but we’re going to see what happens this summer.
AM: Wow.
RW: There’s a reason that it’s very popular. It was wild to see from the test market.
AM: This is really cool and we’re looking forward to trying it.
Have you enjoyed being out here, Edwin?
EC: It’s nice, but I love being in the Dominican because it is very quiet!
AM: Where do you live in the Dominican?
EC: Santo Domingo.
AM: I’ve been there a few times. I had a shoe collab line with Sebago, and they made their shoes at Las Plaza America, so I was there a few times a year and I would go for 5 - 6 days at a clip to design each season ahead of my appearance at HSN. When we weren’t in the factory, we would go to the beach, restaurants, and the clubs! It was so beautiful there and I remember when we were heading to Embassy Suites there we would pass the baseball fields that were lining each sides of the street which was amazing! I loved it!
EC: Everybody wants to go to Dominican Republic to go to Punta Cana.
AM: True!
EC: Some people think that Punta Cana is the whole country.
AM: I fell in love with Santo Domingo. I really did - beautiful. We were partying some place where the kids of Presidente Beer bottling company and then there was a Lamborghini dealership and Louis Vuitton store across the street!
When I first came to DR, Punta Cana was the first city I had been to and we stayed at a lovely all inclusive resort. But then, when I went to Santo Domingo, I fell in love and my first night, we went to Boca Marina in Boca Chica and I made sure that we went there every time I was visiting to design and in each visit, we always had a lunch there and then a dinner! The views there and the food – best Lobster Lasagna. I just had spots – Casa de Campo was also lovely and then I was mesmerized by the baseball fields!
In looking at the 3 expressions, it’s quite an assortment! There is such a vintage vibe here.
RW: Yep, we have extra age products. Our Grand Rerseva, that’s being being developed. This on its own is aged for 6 years.
AM: Wow!
RW: So you know obviously we only launched last year, so people are like, well, how do you have a 6 or 8 year rum? The Distillery partner that we found with Edwin’s help, has been making rum for a long time, and obviously we’ve come in and make our blend, but they’ve got stuff aging for 10+ years. We can pull some of this and some of this and the barrels that we want. At some point, there will be a Reserva.
AM: Yeah, cheers to that moment. So, there’s at least 2 alcohol brands that your family has?
RW: The company that my father started is called, Drink2Success, so Ozama is our baby because our goal is to either create brands that are our own that we can own and develop and build or use our expertise and experience to help other brands. You guys are here in NY, so Wandering Barman is a craft cocktail Brewery or craft cocktail Tap Room. It’s a fantastic room in Brooklyn. It was 3 restaurateurs who saw a need for pre-batch cocktails that were ready to go, ready to serve format. They built a phenomenal business here in New York and allowed us to come in and basically help them take it to the next level.
So, there is nothing like Ozama in our portfolio. We make sure that nothing competes against itself.
AM: Of course! Any piece of innovation has to go here.
RW: Exactly!
There are 5 brands in the portfolio right now. Not only is this our baby, it’s also the biggest.
IG @drinkozama
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | Front Cover + PG 16 - PG 27 Paul Farkas shot on SONY Alpha | PG 28 + PG 31 Ozama | PG 32 Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images | PG 34 - PG 36, PG 42, PG 46 + PG 48 Gerald T Coli/Dreamstime.com | PG 38 Defmusik/Dreamstime.com | PG 41 David Pillow/Dreamstime.com | PG 45 Michael Ivins/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images | PG 50 Frank Micelotta/FOX | PG 52 + PG 55 FOX Sports | PG 56 + PG 58 Trae Patton/FOX |
Read the MAY ISSUE #125 of Athleisure Mag and see RUM TIME WITH Big Papi in mag.
