Good Eats: Montanya Rum

March 23rd, 2013 • BY Kate Siber

As a graphic designer, Karen Hoskin once worked all nighters helping other people realize their dream jobs. Then she got smart.

She took one of her true loves—rum—made a wild leap, and founded a distillery and tasting room in Silverton, Colorado. Three years later, Montanya Distillers moved to Crested Butte and opened a second tasting room there. Five years later, the rum has accumulated 17 medals at national competitions and become the de facto patron libation of Colorado skiers.

We caught up with the cocktail maker herself (below, left) for wisdom on achieving success in a man’s world, entrepreneurship, and, naturally, rum.

WomensMovement: What’s it like to find success in the spirits industry, which is so typically dominated by men?  
Hoskin: We are a group of mainly women competing in a very male-dominated industry and breaking all the traditional rules. We don’t ever use scantily clad women to sell our product, even though all the influential types in the spirits world say we will eventually cave on this point. Not likely!

We’ve also teamed up with Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails and Ladies of American Distilling as a leader in bringing a female vibrancy to the male-dominated world of spirits. It’s very refreshing, and we think the world is ready for it.
 
WM: It takes balls to start a new business. How did you make the leap?
Hoskin: I kept my day job as a graphic designer for the first year or so. The founding process took no thought, no preparation. It was a crazy wild fast leap, decided in early April, 2008 and in progress within a few short weeks.  It felt deeply right from the first moment, and there’s nothing about the process that I would do differently.

Although most distillers would be appalled to hear me say so, distilling is not rocket science. The source of our success has been in choosing what spirits gets aged and bottled. As I taste other rums from the craft spirits world, I know there are a lot of people making rum that don’t really love the spirit like I do, and it shows in the bottle. We are one of the only craft distillers in the US that is focusing exclusively on rum.  
 
WM: Do you have advice for women who are stuck in jobs they don’t love and want to start a business of their own? 
Hoskin: It is critical for a woman to know a bit about herself first. What are your skills, strengths, work habits, lifestyle patterns, and financial needs? Many people think being in business for themselves is very glamorous, and maybe it is eventually, but first it takes a ton of research, long hours and crazy hard work.

Taking a leap out of a career that is not feeding your soul into something new takes incredible optimism and risk tolerance. Optimism and risk tolerance are the two most common traits of the successful business people I know, whether self-employed or working for others.  On the flip side, ego is the ultimate deal breaker, because when success isn’t visible and evident to their audience, or they wake up in the middle of the night terrified that they might not succeed, or they spend days piled over with compliance paperwork, ego-driven people lose momentum. Humility is the friend of women in business. It brings a lot of capable people to your side to help further your vision, and it helps you to recover when you experience the inevitable small failures along the way.  
 
WM: You regularly devise new cocktail recipes for your tasting rooms. Can you share one of your latest creations?

The Basil Paradisi
In a shaker, combine:

3 oz. Montanya Platino Rum
3 whole basil leaves, muddled
juice of half a ruby red grapefruit
juice of half a lime
½ oz. simple syrup or light agave

Shake and strain into martini glass. Garnish with a basil leaf.

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