It was wonderful seeing so many faces at the meeting this past Friday! President Cindy Kelley read a thank you note from GRSP student Brendan Mungwena. Brendan thanked RCSE for all of the support the club has given and continues to give him. Cindy then asked everyone to save the date for Wednesday, October 10, 2018 for the Golfing for Goodness' Sake fundraiser with South and West. Once all business items were discussed, Jason Jones introduced Tony Bagnulo with Bulrush Gin.
Tony began his presentation by discussing the craft spirits industry which started taking off 5-6 years ago. Craft spirits is defined as anything not owned by a large producer. In 2017, there were around 1600 craft spirits in the USA with the industry employing 20,000 people and generating $3 billion in retail sales. Georgia has 20 distilleries. Currently, bourbon is the hottest spirit on the market.
In order for a spirit to be gin, it has to have juniper berries which are grown in Eastern Europe. Gin originated from a drink called Genever from the Netherlands in the 15th century. It was popular in the UK and started growing in popularity in the US when soldiers came home after WWI. Bulrush Gin was launched 3 years ago. Tony decided on the name "bulrush" because it means marsh grass which is reflective of the heritage of the lowcountry. It is a 3 day distilling process and 500 bottles are produced at a time making it a small batch. Bulrush Gin uses 13 different botanical's in its gin. In addition to owning Bulrush Gin, Tony also owns a marketing agency that specializes in marketing for craft spirits. To end the presentation, Tony offered a tasting of his product.