Chic Choc Spiced Rum is going on the road in Ontario and Quebec in an effort to get millennials interested in its Canadian-made spiced rum.
“Our experience and research has found people have got to try it” in order to buy it, says Charles Crawford, president and founder of Domaine Pinnacle, the Frelighsburg, Quebec company that makes Chic Choc Spiced Rum.
The Chic Choc Spiced Rum Truck Tour is in Ontario until the end of June and Quebec in July and August. Samples are being handed out in Ontario and cocktails are being sold in Quebec.
As the target for spiced rum is a younger demographic in their 20s, the tour is hitting destinations such as Wasaga Beach and Toronto’s Entertainment District and music events and festivals in Montreal.
Launched in 2014, the artisanal spiced rum is made with six spices from the forests of the Chic Choc Mountains in Quebec’s Gaspé region. “It’s a fairly new brand for us, so we’re trying to get people talking about it,” Crawford says.
The spiced rum is the only one that sources its spices from the Chic Chocs, says Crawford, giving it “a completely different flavour profile than other spiced rums.”
The truck tour features the Chic Choc Spiced Rum branding that includes a Chic Choc Adventurer atop a bear.
Using a bear differentiates the spiced rum from competitors like Captain Morgan and Sailor Jerry that use sailors and the sea in their branding, Crawford says. “We wanted something that’s related to Canada,” he says, adding the use of a bear mascot on the tour attracts attention.
The tour is also trying to create social media buzz by conducting a contest that will select one winner to throw a Chic Choc Spiced Rum Truck Tour party on Canada Day.
To enter the contest, participants must submit a photo to Twitter or Instagram from the location of the Chic Choc Spiced Rum Truck and include the truck, the bear, a brand ambassador or all three and the hashtag #chicchocrum.
“We’re a small company, so we’re trying to do things a little bit grassroots, a little bit guerilla marketing,” Crawford says. “We know we can’t afford a big ad campaign.”
During the tour, Domaine Pinnacle is giving away 50 mL miniatures of Chic Choc Spiced Rum in Ontario. In Quebec, where it’s not allowed to give miniatures away, the company is selling cocktails that incorporate the brand.
The rums sells for $33.75at the LCBO, slightly more expensive than other spiced rums. “It’s a pretty good product for us,” he says, noting the rum has won a number of medals in wines and spirits competitions.
Based in the Eastern Townships of Quebec and founded in 2000, Domaine Pinnacle is a family-owned orchard, maple grove and micro-distillery. Starting in 2010, the company began producing a number of spirit brands like Ungava Gin, Coureur des Bois and Cabot Trail that are made with Quebec plants, berries and maple syrup.
“Our whole mission is to develop Canadian brands,” Crawford says.
Enterprise Canada does public relations for Domaine Pinnacle.
