Game Changers Podcast with Quinn St. Juste
Game Changers Podcast with Quinn St. Juste
From Military Precision to Scottish Rum Mastery: The Sylvester Herman Transformation
Sylvester Herman shares his transformative journey from military service to owning Scotland's first modern rum distillery, celebrating his St Lucian heritage while embracing new opportunities. The conversation dives into the intricacies of rum production, the importance of personal connections in business, and how to navigate life's challenges while respecting one's roots.
• Sylvester's early challenges living in New York after 9/11
• Transitioning from military contractor to distillery owner
• Finding purpose in the wake of personal loss
• The rum production process using molasses
• Unique rum offerings including Scotch Bonnet Rum
• Strategies for targeted marketing and customer relationship building
• Contact details for those interested in his distillery and rum production
Hello everybody and welcome to a special Saint Lucian Independence version of the Game Changers podcast. My name is Quinn Sejis and it's a privilege and pleasure to be here with you. As usual, my next guest is a young man who is truly transformative. You will hear how he took his life from the military to owning his own distillery. His name is Sylvester Herman and I can't wait to introduce him to you. Like I said, this is part of a special St Lucian Independence series where we focus on St Lucians in the diaspora really changing their lives. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy the episode. But before you go and watch this episode, I would like to showcase our special edition St Lucian Independent merch. It is available online at our website at wwwgamechangers758.com, or it is available locally in St Lucia for only $50. Get your merch, rep your pride and be a game changer. Anyhow, enjoy the episode. Hello Sylvester, how are you man?
Speaker 2:I'm there, man. I'm there Freezing.
Speaker 1:Wow, wow. What part of the world are you in right now?
Speaker 2:I'm in Scotland. I'm in the west of Scotland, just 20 minutes outside of Glasgow. Yeah, in Dombach. So, freezing weather.
Speaker 1:Yeah, freezing, freezing weather.
Speaker 2:Especially this week, this week being minus 3 degrees Celsius, minus 3 Celsius. Been cold, everything been frozen.
Speaker 1:Wow, alright, bro. So just tell us a little bit about yourself, man, Some general information.
Speaker 2:Yeah well, I'm born in Saltibus, I'm from Saltibus, oh wow. Born in Saltibus, grew up in Saltibus. Well, I went to Saltibus Primary. After Saltiers' Primary I went to Buford, sec. Graduation year of 2000. Man like Darren Summey and your boy Doops, yeah, so yeah, soldiers' Primary and then spent some time in PI, lived in PI for a while, stayed in New York, worked with the American military, worked with the British military, worked with also Scotland, scottish police, scottish police force. What I do now is I own my own distillery. I'm a distiller. Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:So that is a I'm already seeing that must be an interesting story. So you mentioned. Everything you mentioned was either military or police, and then all of a sudden, you just dropped that you own your own distillery orders. What is the story behind that, sylvester?
Speaker 2:tell us yeah, uh, well, um, after 9-11, I was living in New York. I was living in New York and everybody got patriotic, all Americans got patriotic, all Americans got patriotic and everybody was joining the military. The thing about it, if you notice, my accent is a little bit of a melange, a little bit of a mix and match type of accent. So in New York it was not racism, but it was anybody who had an accent was a terrorist, basically Suspicious of a terrorist as a terrorist. Because you have an accent, you don't sound American, and I'm not talking black or white or no specific race. You have an accent. Do the government know you're about? Type of thing, basically, um, so, so during that time it was, I found it quite difficult moving around america and so on, so forth, and my accent I never go away, I don't lose my accent.
Speaker 2:So about 2004, 2005, I met a girl and and she decided to join the American military and you know I don't know about you, but you know I follow. You know, all right, all right, I follow. And in the form of following, during the time when I was following, she basically finished her basic training and it was like, yeah, you're going to Germany, that's where your base will be. It was like oh, so we're going to go to Germany together. They were like no, you can't go together until you're married. You're not married, you cannot go to Germany. You could fly on your own, but we're not going to pay for nothing. You do your own paperwork, everything. And the day they tell us that, that same day, we walk into a what's the name of the office where he signed paperwork, we walk in there, we got married and a month later I was in Germany Wow, with the American military. So that happened and I spent quite a few years doing as a military contractor, doing a few things here and there, getting things done In 20.
Speaker 2:I don't remember the exact year my time in Germany was done with the American military, but because of what I went through after 9-11, I refused to go back to America. I refused to go back to New York, and that's the only place I knew was New York. I refused. I did not want to go back to New York. So I decided I'm gonna take a week break and I'm gonna go to to London. Just go and chill out, take a week break, think of what I want to do.
Speaker 2:Um, I didn't save any money during that time so I couldn't go to St Lucia In terms of I had nothing to bounce back on. So I couldn't go to St Lucia. I had a little bit of money, but not enough, and I didn't have a career in St Lucia. I didn't have anything in St Lucia by then. I was out of St Lucia for at least seven years by myself, don't even know nobody in London, Don't know nothing in London. And I'm walking around through London in the middle of Trafalgar Square where the guy on the horse I think it's Trafalgar Square. I went there and I saw a place that says Careers Office. In America, careers Office is what we call over here, a job center, if you need a job you walk in.
Speaker 2:But in, that's what I thought it was. I thought it was like uh, where you go for to get a job, any type of job? I walked in not knowing that it's a recruiting office for the british military. Wow, it's a recruited office. So the guys were like, yeah, this is the jobs we have. Um, this, this, this, this, um, what are you doing here? Who are you?
Speaker 2:I was like, wait a minute, because I was amongst military personnel in Germany, it didn't really phase me. I was like, yeah, what's going on? I guess they're in the same place. And they're like, yeah, this is, and I think they. I was thinking, yeah, they may be just trying to catch me before I go to the next place and see what other jobs walked through and then I saw there was nobody else, but all military in the air force army. Everybody was there, um. So I walked in, um, they're like, yeah, what's your name? I sat down, what's your name? I was like, yeah, I gave them my name. I was like what you do? I was like, yeah, I'm with the american military, um, based in germany, um, and so on, so forth. They're like, ah, oh, then you're no good then, um, if you're with the American military, we cannot really mess with you. But then one of the guys was like wait a minute, he's got an accent. Where is he from?
Speaker 2:I was like yeah, I'm from St Lucia. They're like you still got St Lucia passport. I was like, yeah. They're like oh, okay, we can work with you. We can work with you. I was like yeah, but I'm not looking to join the military, I'm just looking to see if there's other opportunities there. They're like you know the sales pitch. They give you the sales pitch this is the greatest opportunity on that. Good, high property, high trade of knife. Yeah, I don't think so. I'll work, I'm going to go.
Speaker 2:They're like no, no, just take the test, take the bad test. The bad test is the pre-entry test, just to see what your IQ is, and stuff like that. They're like just take the test. If nothing happens, it doesn't matter, just take the test, see where you sit, let's see what's up. So I did. It takes about 30 minutes to 45 minutes. Do the test. They grade it.
Speaker 2:They're like based on the test, this is what you have, engineer. Based on that, you've got engineering, freaking signals, loads of different jobs they give me and I was like yeah, which one of these jobs would guarantee me going back to Germany and staying in Germany, because Germany is all I know. I don't know the UK, I'm just here on vacation. They're like none of them. I was like you see, that's why I cannot, I can't stay, I have to go. You're like, however, we have a job that's permanently and is guaranteed that you're permanently based in Germany, if you want to. I was like show me then. And they showed me the infantry, they showed me the rifles. Yeah, let me hear more about it. I listen more about it. Long story short, I just tell them hey, if y'all really want me, give me a call. I have to go back at the end of the week, give me a call. And if y'all really want me and let me know. So they're like okay, okay, we'll let you know. So I went back to Germany at the end of the week by like two weeks later. They're like yeah, we want you if you want to come, if you want to join, we want you.
Speaker 2:In march 2008, and I literally got on the plane in march, march of 2008. Um, jump on a train with just a small amount of stuff. Whatever the list of stuff, only a list of stuff they sent me and I joined the, the British military. I was in Catholic in no time and, true to their promise, as soon as I finished, in November of that year, they sent me straight to Germany. Straight back to Germany, however, they sent me to the unit. When they sent me to the unit, that unit was going straight to Iraq. So I spent a year in Germany, two weeks just fresh myself up, get used to everything, on a plane straight to Kuwait, straight into Iraq.
Speaker 2:I did Iraq. Iraq was good. It was good. It was not good, but it was. If I'm talking to other military personnel, I say it was good, they'll understand what I mean. It was tough, but it was okay. Came back, became a fitness instructor Basically, I like bragging about it. I had an hour of power every day. I was the highest ranking person on the camp, every day for one hour.
Speaker 2:I was an all-arms PTI Did that. I was an all-arms PTI, did that and at the end of around 2014, 2012, 2014, I felt like you know, my luck is running out. That's after doing Afghanistan and about to go back to Afghanistan again, I was like my luck is going to run out. I need to sign out of this thing. I signed out. Mo need to sign out of this thing. I signed out, moved to well, you wouldn't believe it. You wouldn't believe it. Another thing that happened there is another human in it.
Speaker 1:Wow, wow, wow. I'm not surprised, I'm not surprised.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I met this girl after 2012 in Crete, in Greece and 2012,. It kind of cemented the idea that I need to leave the military. And she's from Scotland and I decided, okay, I'm going to sign out, I'm going to move to Scotland see how the things is there. So when I left in 2014, I never lived in the UK. I never basically apart from the basic training in the UK. I never moved back to the UK. I never did anything in the UK. I knew Germany better than I knew the UK at that time. So I didn't know what I had to do, what I could have done when, where. So I didn't know what I had to do, what I could have done when, where. So I was like you know what the police must be, like the army. I'm going to join it. It must be like the army. It's similar discipline and everything. It must be the same thing. You know what I mean, despite how anti-police I grew up. You know yeah, yeah, yeah. But when, when I joined it, everything was good. I got loads of commendation from because my training, I was fit and I did everything. I got loads of commendation from the offices, the training offices, and I joined in my units and it was kind of like the worst experience I've had, really compared to militaries. It was quite tough, yeah.
Speaker 2:So around 20, 2016, 20, at the end of 2015, my dad passed away, got you. He's from Lamaze on Shuzel's side there. The thing about it is not that I couldn't make it back to Selocia, it's not that I, not that I couldn't make it, not that I I I couldn't make it back to selushia. It's not that I, not that I couldn't make it, not that I I I couldn't afford to go or anything. I just didn't go to the funeral. I didn't. I treated it like all the other friends. All the military funerals I've been through, like all my comrades and everything. I was like I'm not going to another funeral. I can't take this no more. Um, if you've been to a funeral, you know what I mean, man.
Speaker 2:If you go to a funeral, you have to know people that you know, and so I was like I cannot take it no more, I cannot do another one of these. And the night of the funeral, I was sitting right here in this house, where I am right now, and I broke down. I regret. I don't do regrets Most St Lucians don't have regrets neither, but I definitely do my St Lucian thing. No regrets, that's it, no regrets. And that night was the closest I got to ever regretting anything in my life.
Speaker 2:Well, I regretted basically I full on regretted not going down to St Lucia for the funeral and to see everybody. So that night I put pen on paper. I was, I wrote everything I knew about my father, everything I knew about him, everything that he taught me, everything, that that thing, and it all revolved around Ram he had a cabaret he had a cabaret in Lamaze. He used to make his own little a back hut where you know he used to do this thing, and everything he taught me revolved around rum.
Speaker 2:So so I wrote, I wrote all that down. I wrote everything down just to get me through that hard time, just because my head was in a bad place. I was just writing. Write it. Um, by december of that year, I had a full business plan about rum how to make a whole RAM venture. And in January 2016, I launched Scotland's first modern RAM company.
Speaker 2:Very first registered RAM company in Scotland in 2016. That's how. Let me finish a bit about the police first and then finish the bit about the police first, and then we will answer the question. You asked there when I went from police all the way to RAM. So I launched the company and then I was asking my commander. I told my commander, yeah, because you have to declare any business you have as a police officer. So I decided I'm going to declare it, I'm gonna, I'm gonna declare this business and I am gonna do it proper, because I I'm all about doing everything proper. I went to speak to my commander and I was like I told him, yeah, I need to register. Uh, my sergeant was like, yeah, go to go speak to a commander. I went to the commander, say, hey, I want, I have this business, I would like to register it.
Speaker 2:The man, he looked at me in my face and he tell me no chance, no chance, not an effing chance that you're gonna get permitted to do that. I was like why? He's like no chance, it's alcohol, no chance. And I I brought. I told him hey, there was, there's this this, this lady who's in the police, she's doing there. How is she doing there, there, why can't I do my thing? And he's like no chance and he's like the process, we're not even going to go through the process. You know what I mean. So I was like you know what. I looked at him and I tell him, whether or not you like it, I'm doing it. Literally. He thought like the police, I, I treated him as a carrier. He doesn't understand my mindset.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean when you're doing too much things, you're not stopping. I literally told him you're not stopping me. Right Solution hard-headedness. Hey, without hard-headedness you don't have success, you're right. So I decided to jump In the military. It's unheard of you, don't go over a rank, over anybody. And that was me going through the ranking system, doing the military thing, being a nice person.
Speaker 2:No-transcript if you have an alcohol business, as long as you're not selling alcohol directly to the public, send an alcohol directly to the public and you don't own majority of shares in the company. I was like easy, you know what I mean. And also as long as you don't have any licenses in your name, because the police have to approve licenses, so it's a conflict of interest. So I was like easy. So I followed all that. I registered my business, I put the shares here and there, I split everything up, make sure that I am not majority of shares. Then I went back to police work.
Speaker 2:I kept on doing my police work, no matter how tough and how much I hated it, I kept on doing it. I keep doing that. Every time the BBC shout me out. The BBC find out I was doing that, doing rum. They shout me out. They're like, yeah, there's an interview, would you like to make an interview? We can ask you a few questions. I was like I'm not allowed to talk anything about me selling rum, but I'm able to talk about rum on the whole.
Speaker 2:And they're like yeah that's good, and you could tell us a little bit more about rum and so on and so forth. I was like, yeah, I could do that. So I do that. Radio stations were calling me up. I was doing interviews. So every time I do one of these interviews right here, the police would be like hold up, what are you doing? I was like I didn't tell anybody I am from saint lucia.
Speaker 1:I was born a rum barrel. I could talk about rum as much as I, as much as the, the, the sun could be up, basically you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:So so, yeah, um, so every time I do this interview, they pull me up, but in that it all for them to come, come to a conclusion and close that case, because Because when they pull me up, it's not just like pull up and then you go back to work. Six months they'll put you behind a computer. People were just literally doing paperwork, staying behind a computer. You're not allowed to see the public. Because you did something, you did that, and every time after six months they did that. I did about nine interviews and nine type of public type of things. About nine times they put me on the bench and I was not injured. I was the most I was willing to work and go out on the road and do my thing, and they put me six months at a time and they come back at the end of six months and give me a piece of paper and tell me hey, you could go back to work now, just like that, one day at the front of the desk, the next day I have to go back to work, no type of nothing. And over the seven years they did it about six to nine times. They did that On the last time in 2019, middle of COVID COVID just start.
Speaker 2:Covid just start. No 2020, covid just start, just just just start. They do the same thing. I was like, okay, I will take that. I understand, I know the process already, I'll take it.
Speaker 2:So, at the end of the six months sitting on the bench, no, I didn't wait for the six months to sit on the bench, I went, I went home. I say I'm sick, I went home. I went home. I was like I'm not doing this again. And then I started writing my resignation letter. Like four months in Started writing my resignation letter, put it on the side. I'm waiting for them to call me to tell me to come back to work. When they call me and tell me to come back to work, they give me that same piece of paper that they always give me. And then I give them my piece of paper. I was like, thank you, I'm not putting that uniform on, I'm going.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and in the meantime, island Slice. Every time they put me on the bench for that six months I had to stop everything, even with Island Slice. I didn't think If I had think ahead every time they get out six months, I should have pushed Island Slice harder, but I did not do that. That was a mistake on my part. If I was thinking ahead, I would have done that, but I did not do that. So every time six months, I would stop island slice and island slice would just dip got you. I was tired of that. I was losing island slice and I didn't like the job, so I jumped straight in. You were losing twice. I was losing twice literally, and I think that was the intention. The intention was to break me and break everything that I was doing.
Speaker 1:That is really an interesting story, you know, coming from nothing, going for all these hardships and then creating a rum brand. Now, I personally do not drink I mean, that's not my thing but I'm always interested in the craftsmanship behind creating rum. So what is the process like?
Speaker 2:With rum, the base product. The definition of rum is quite simple compared to all the other spirits in the world. It's basically anything distilled from the sugarcane, the sugarcane plant or any byproduct of the sugarcane plant, the sugarcane plant or any byproduct of the sugarcane plant. Um, so because it's because there's no sugarcane growing in scotland, um, I use, I use molasses, which is a byproduct of the sugarcane. I use molasses, so got you so the molasses. This just very basic, very basic um process is molasses mixed with water and you you pour in yeast and you let that ferment. Once that's fermented, you pour that into a pot. We call it a steel in the trade.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We pour that into a pot, we boil that and we basically extract the ethanol. We're separating one compound from the other. We're separating ethanol from the rest of the other compounds. We're separating ethanol from the rest of the other compounds. We collect that ethanol over here. Because I'm in Scotland, I always put my rum in a barrel, or I just make a spice rum or a squash bonnet rum.
Speaker 1:So okay. So you spoke about various types of rum. Right Again, I don't drink, so tell me a little bit about some of the products that you you have and you know the variations yeah, before I even start, I need to tell you I don't drink, neither I sip wow, all right anyway, um, yeah, so, um.
Speaker 2:So, as far as the rum come out of the steel, um, and it's it's white rum. It comes out about 80 alcohol, quite strong, okay, so that's white rum. But before that become white rum, before I could make it a sellable white rum, I bring it down to about 40. Most of the purists will look at me and they'll be like that should be about 45, 50, not 40. I bring it down to about 40 percent. Most of the purists will look at me and they'll be like that should be about 45, 50 percent, not 40. I bring it down to about 40 percent, um, by mixing it with water and pouring over charcoal. Charcoal is just for filtration and I bought that's my white rum. I have a spice rum which is a masala chai spice rum. It's, it's literally um, masala chai spices, um, that's been soaked in the strong rum and I bring it down to 40 percent, bottling, um.
Speaker 2:I have a dark rum. The dark rum is basically the white rum at about 60 percent from 80 percent. I bring it down to 60 percent and I fill a barrel up, let it age. Once that's aged, I then bottle that at 40% and sell it as my everyday dark rum and recently I launched not recently, but it's one of my flagships I launched a scotch bonnet rum which is just 100% scotch bonnet infused with white rum. Wow, spicy, yeah. Well, the idea of it is not to get the spiciness of the pepper, but most people don't know that. The Caribbean knows it, but they don't know why they're doing it. You know, when you take the whole scotch bonnet, you put it in and after you finish, your stew you take the scotch bonnet out.
Speaker 2:Yeah the flavor the sweetness because scotch bonite and you take the whole scotch brite, you put it in and after you finish your, you take the flavor, yeah, the sweetness, because scotch brite is a fruit, yeah, it is a fruit, so it has a lot of sweet flavors in there. So we try and extract all these sweet flavors, but not too much of the spice. You want to leave as much of the spice in there, but you want the pepper flavors. You want the, the sweetness, you want to taste the fruitiness of the, the pepper. So you get all the pepper flavors, you get all the heat, um, everything and it's. It was never supposed to be on the list of my products, but it ended up there yeah, that happens sometimes.
Speaker 1:That happens sometimes. So let's talk about exportation. You know, I know that the big goal of distilleries is not just to have it in the local market but to export. Yeah, have you started exporting yet?
Speaker 2:well since, since well, it's three years already since I, four years since I left the the police, um, so I'm scaling up. At the moment I'm in the middle of a big scale up. At the moment I'm only producing about four barrels, not including the scotch bonnet, the spice and the white rum that I normally have. I'm only producing four barrels a week at the moment. That's after my scale up after I left the police. So I'm in the middle of scaling up. I'll be looking to. I'm aiming to be producing at least nine barrels a week. Nine to 10 barrels a week. 10 isn't the goal, but I want to be conservative. 10 barrels a week, not including my white rum and my dark rum and spice rum. Once I could get to that point, I will have a good capacity then to supply to, because we do have France, we do have Germany, we do have, well, scotland, well, the whole of the UK, including Ireland, northern Ireland and Ireland. We do have them already that we export into. But we are where we want, want, I'm not even gonna say my lovely island, um is america. Um, if we could get america, just a few places, because, remember, we're doing a rum, that's very, what's the word? I'll call it like not not the word is not niche like very, it's, it's craft, it's a crafted rum. It Got you.
Speaker 2:The way I describe the rum is my dad taught me about how to do this rum, based on the rum that was being done by the slaves on the plantation. Not just there is rum, we're making rum. The same way my ancestors were doing rum is the way he was doing rum. You know what I mean. So that's the type of rum we're doing. So we're not doing a rum that just, yeah, I'm making rum. It's a rum that has a heart, it has a soul, it belongs to St Lucia, even if it's been done in Scotland. Yes, yes, it's got that history, that heart, that soul, it's got that. So we cannot just say we mass producing and sending everywhere, we, we will do that, don't get me wrong, but it will not, it will not be, we'll not put that label on it um so when we hit these markets, we're looking not to send 20, 20 000 containers, you know.
Speaker 2:I mean we're looking to send one container got you?
Speaker 1:yeah, it's. It's almost like a, an acquired taste, you know, a luxury.
Speaker 2:Yes, you must be able to appreciate it and anybody who's sipping it got to be able to taste the story, taste the heart, taste the soul of that rum. So it's no rush to get every single market, but when we get it, we want to get it at a premium, which is what I did in Scotland. The prestigious hotels out here, the Hilton's, the little, not the little. The prestigious hotels out here, the Hilton's, the little, not the little. The independent hotels that when you come to Scotland, that's where you would like to stay. That's the places.
Speaker 2:Who has it in Scotland the bars, the pubs that has it is not just everywhere where everybody goes to just drink, that has it. So that's how we have it in Scotland and we're going to continue that theme Even in France. We have it in Scotland and we're going to continue that theme Even in France. We have it in the small shops I don't know what they call them in France, but that's where we have it. And the thing about it also, it's almost guaranteed orders when you have these people, whereas if you have all the places that have a thousand rams and all the different rams and all the different things, you wait at least six months before you get a repeat order, because when you put it in these shops, they are your salesperson, that's true.
Speaker 2:They feel that when you give them the story, that story they're able to pass it on to every customer that come in and looking for something special, Because that realm will be special. It will not be a realm that's everybody know about got you, yeah, yeah, and I think that's an important lesson.
Speaker 1:and then my next question you'll open the floor for other lessons that you've learned in business, but I think that's an important lesson because sometimes we, as business people, think that our product is for everybody, and that's not true, you know. It's only for those who value it.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, you need to. Also, the thing about it is not just only those who value it, cause some people will do that Same, see, that same exact thing. Right, those who value it and they'll be like they'll write away. It's say, say, say, I try and pitch it to you and you'll say, nah, I don't like it. And I'll be like it's not for you. Then If I say, oh, it's not for you, then and I walk away, right, that's bad business also. Well, that's true, I need to find out. Hey, tell me why you didn't like it. Is there anything that will be changed, just so I could do it? It's like market research on the fly. You know what I mean. That's true. What's the reason why?
Speaker 2:And basically, just trying to get some data about you what type of rum do you normally drink? If I have that data, then it helped me target my audience. Know that. Okay, maybe I shouldn't waste my time with you Because, first of all, you don't drink. Right, right, right, if you let me do that. Oh, he does not drink. Don't waste my time on people who don't drink. You know what I mean? Because I'm. So, if I collect that data, if I just say, oh, if you write away. You say nah, nah, not for me. And I was like yeah, not for you then, and I walk away without collecting that data, then I don't know exactly yeah, what's my?
Speaker 1:target. You've not learned anything nothing.
Speaker 2:So is that also? Is that, and also when you, when you do find out who your arm is for, who appreciates your Ram, make them feel special. Make them know that you appreciate them just as much as you appreciate the Ram. Cause it's not about yeah, the Ram is getting sold, so that's okay. Let these customers know. Let these, these clients know hey, I appreciate you, Without even using the words. It's simple stuff, like just say hey. Like, for instance, my bottle shops, I normally go and be like I'm showing up on Saturday, I want to do a tasting. They're like you. I thought you sent people. I'm like no, I want to come to that bottle shop and stand there and let other people try and sell the product. And they appreciate that because I bring customers to their place knowing that I am standing there. The person who produced the rum is standing in their shop rather than a salesperson, so that's a big thank you and they appreciate that.
Speaker 1:It has a personal touch, like you said, it has a feel.
Speaker 2:So, for instance, if I go to France and I know one of the shops have it, I will just walk into the shop and be like, yeah, I'll go tasting and I'll just send them free bottles after whatever amount of bottles I used for sampling. I just send it back to them when I come back to Scotland. So it's one of those things. I'm on vacation oh, you got my rum. I will do a few hours standing here letting people try it and talking to them.
Speaker 2:beautiful and it costs nothing absolutely only your time and your effort and it's, and it comes back tenfold because while I'm standing there, I will sell everything on the shelf absolutely makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a lot of sense. Okay, somebody is watching this episode and is interested in not just getting your realm but in contact with you to learn about business, to learn about development, because you've gone through so much and you've still come through. How can they get in contact with you or buy a product?
Speaker 2:Yeah, first thing I'd like to say is I don't think I've learned much.
Speaker 2:I still don't know business even if I've been doing it that long, I still don't feel there's so much to learn still. There's so much to do still. So there will never be a point where I will know a lot or enough about business or enough about the whole structure, not only business, but everything. However, to gain contact with me, I'm on islandslicecouk. Directly to me is sylvester at islandslicecouk. Sylvester at islandslicecouk. My emails, my social media, everything is managed. So you'll not be talking to me directly, of course you won't. However, that's a way to reach out to me. And if there is anybody, especially a fellow St Lucian, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Looking for, whether it's rum, because there's enough place for the market. There's only one. I don't mean for the market, there's only one. I don't mean to be controversial. There's only one rum distillery in St Lucia. The only thing about rum is the enslaved Africans were making it out of whatever resources they have molasses that was being thrown away. I'm a direct descendant of a slave. I'm proud to say that because I'm a black man in.
Speaker 2:St Lucia. And if I trace my ancestry of a slave, I'm proud to say that because I'm a black man in St Lucia, and if I trace my ancestry, it goes all the way back to when my ancestors were enslaved and brought to the Caribbean to work, right? So what I'd say is you know, talk to me about rum, talk to me about rum if you want to know anything about rum. If somebody wants to come to Scotland and they have their finances and everything and they want to learn how to make rum, I will show them everything. I will put them through the whole process and show them what I do, how I do everything, because rum belongs to us.
Speaker 2:Rum belongs to us on the island. Yeah, it was taken from us, but it belongs to us, it's ours and we are able to to um, to do this because it's not, it does. No, there was a basic understanding of a little bit of chemistry, a little bit of, basically, a basic understanding of life. You could do rum well, basically, or anything really, anything in life, anything in life really. But no, I'm targeting rum because that's my, my, my specialty, that's what I do. Um, so I'm on instagram island slice rum. Same thing with twitter, um all the social media, island slice rum, even um linkedin. However, the best way to reach me directly is my direct linkedin, which is sylvester herman and we'll leave the links down below so that they can get easy access to that.
Speaker 1:Yes, that would be great. Sylvester, I just thank you so much for coming on. I appreciate this conversation. I've learned a lot and I believe that what you're doing is not just a distillery, but you're telling St Lucian stories, and I appreciate that. As a fellow St Lucian, but more importantly, as a fellow man, I have to thank you for what you're doing.
Speaker 2:Yes, Love doesn't learn. That gives us both.
Speaker 1:For sure.
Speaker 2:That's all I could say Wherever you roam, wherever you may roam, that's it Absolutely.
Speaker 1:All right, bro Thank you for coming on again.
Speaker 1:Ladies and gentlemen, viewers, thank you for watching. I know that you learned something Remember to like and subscribe. We have so many more amazing guests coming your way. If you're watching on YouTube, like and subscribe. If you are listening on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, remember to like and subscribe there as well and download the episodes so you can listen on the go. Anyhow, this has been yet another Game Changers interview. I hope you enjoyed it. In fact, I know you enjoyed it. Until next time, stay hungry and I'll see you then. Bye-bye, Bye.