For immediate release
April 22, 2015
NINE LEAVES CLEAR WINS GOLD AWARD IN
PREMIUM WHITE RUM CATEGORY AT
MIAMI RUM RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL 2015
Yoshiharu Takeuchi of auto-parts manufacturing company Takehiro Co. Ltd. launched “NINE LEAVES”, a brand of domestic rum in 2013. This month at the Miami Rum Renaissance Festival 2015, “NINE LEAVES CLEAR” won the gold medal in the Premium White Rum category, making it the first Japanese rum to win an award at this competition and the brand’s fourth award received at an international competition.
The Miami Rum Renaissance Festival held in Miami, Florida every year, is one of the world's premier international rum events and the world’s largest trade exposition for rum. Starting from April 14, 2015, 12 members of the International Rum Experts Panel and five guest judges participated in six blind tasting sessions of 14 categories of 127 of the finest rums from around the world. NINE LEAVES CLEAR took home the gold award in the Premium White Rum category.
NINE LEAVES will be participating in upcoming rum festivals around the world.
ShowRUM Italian Rum Festival 2015 - September 26-28
5th German Rum Festival Berlin - October 3-4
The UK Rumfest - October 17-18
In addition to France, Germany and other countries of the EU, NINE LEAVES plans to export products to North America as well.
About NINE LEAVES
With the concept, “Sincerely Made, Rum from Japan” the brand launched in 2013. Using only the finest ingredients including super soft water refined by the Otowa Mountains in Shiga Prefecture and brown sugar (muscovado) from Okinawa, Honshu’s first domestically produced rum brand was born. The use of handmade copper pot-stills imported from Scotland’s well-known Forsyth Inc., for the initial distillation of Nine Leaves rum, created a delicate and sweet flavor with depth and layers.
Being part of a family that had been in the automotive-parts industry for 4 generations, Yoshiharu decided to enter into a completely different industry with the yearning to create a finished product that embodies his creativity and the spirit of Japanese craftsmanship that runs throughout the family.
The first product “NINE LEAVES CLEAR" (Launched June, 2013) is a strong and vibrant white rum. The scent closely resembles that of daiginjyo and has a sense of Japanese element which makes it perfect for luxury hotels like Chinzanso and Aman Tokyo which are just a few of the hotels and bars in the country where customers can enjoy NINE LEAVES rum. At an international competition held in France, “RUMFEST PARIS 2014”, “NINE LEAVES CLEAR” won the silver award for “Innovation de L’année” making it the first Japanese rum to win an international award. Following this success, ”NINE LEAVES ANGEL’S HALF” (Launched March, 2014) was created by aging “NINE LEAVES CLEAR” for 6 months in two different oak barrels, French oak and American Oak. As the brand’s first barrel-aged rum, a limited amount is released every six months. “ANGEL’S HALF American Oak Cask” won a bronze award in the category of spirits aged for 5 years or less at the the "III CONGRESO INTERNACIONAL DEL RON MADRID 2014” in Spain. It also took home the Newcomer award in Germany at the “4th GERMAN RUM FESTIVAL BERLIN” that same year.
In March 2015 the brand launched the fourth product “NINE LEAVES ALMOST SPRING ~ Cabernet Sauvignon Cask” which was aged in red wine barrels from California’s Wente Vineyards.
In March 2015 the brand launched the fourth product "Nine Leaves Almost Spring ~ Cabernet Sauvignon Cask” which was aged in red wine barrels from California’s Wente Vineyards.