News Archives - Yolo Rum

What is an Award-Winning Rum Anyway?

2019 has been another award-winning year for Yolo Rum. Find out what it takes to bottle excellence with Yolo Rum!

At Yolo Rum, our team is obsessed with excellence. From our partnership with master distiller Don Pancho, to create the perfect rum, to our work to get the message—and the taste—of Yolo rum out to our community of rum connoisseurs, our hard work has been acknowledged time and again at industry competitions. Find out what it takes to be an award-winning rum when you only live once with Yolo!

Why is Yolo Rum Winning So Many Awards?!

Coming fresh off of our first appearance at the 2019 Nightclub and Bar Show in March, Yolo Rum has been making headlines and living up to its namesake with not one, not two but four awards for our Gold and Silver Rums.

Yolo Goes Home with Silver and Gold at the Inaugural Proof Awards

Yolo Rum returned to Vegas this June from the 16-18 to participate in the inaugural Proof (Pr%f) Awards. Held at Tivoli Village, in the west part of Sin City, the mission of the PR%F Awards was to introduce spirits brands to key decision makers in the liquor industry in a two-day event that included more than 30 spirit industry leaders and 500 spirit brands. Over the course of the event, 2019 Proof Awards judges participated in a blind-tasting point-rating competition featuring hundreds of participants. The judges, who were mainstream liquor buyers, distributors, and industry leaders with buying decision capability awarded Yolo with two medals in the competition. Yolo Rum Gold won a gold medal and Yolo Rum Silver won a silver medal, respectively and both were featured in the July 2019 issue of Food & Beverage Magazine.

Sipping in the Winners Circle at the Spirits International Prestige Awards (SIP)

When it comes to spirit competitions, the SIP Awards stand apart as the only internationally recognized consumer judging spirits competition that caters to the opinions and palates of the discerning spirit enthusiast. By providing a truly even playing field for established brands and newcomers alike, the goal of SIP’s organizers is to provide “one of the most reliable measures of beverage quality rating in the world by delivering the opinions, thoughts, and voices of the consumers to the general public.”

As a unique, spirit judging competition, unaffected by industry bias, we were honored to discover that Yolo Rum Gold and Yolo Rum Silver were both awarded with Gold medals in their respective categories of Extra Aged Rum (Yolo Gold) and White Rum (Yolo Silver)! According to SIP’s website, “the Gold medal celebrates spirits that demonstrated a noteworthy performance in a double blind tasting with a diverse consumer panel. With scores in the upper division, Gold medal spirits are strongly recommended.” Yolo Rum is continually demonstrating excellence as an award winning rum.

This year’s SIP Awards judging panel included 146 consumer judges hand-selected by organizers to ensure demographic diversity. The organizers of the SIP awards also screened their judges for any potential spirit brand affiliation to ensure the integrity of the results.

As the only blind tasting competition of its kind, the SIP Awards is an unbiased platform for top brands like Yolo to showcase their products to the most discerning of audiences. This year’s competition included almost 1,000 spirits and mixers entered across 93 different categories.

What Other Awards has Yolo Rum Won?

These Summer wins have brought Yolo’s international medal count up to 27 in just a few years! Other awards we’ve won include:

2015 Denver International Spirits Competition Winner: Double Gold Medal & Best in Class – Yolo Gold
2015 RumXP Panel Winner at the Miami Rum Festival Winner: Gold Medal in the ‘Aged 10 to 15’ Year Category – Yolo 10
2016 Denver International Spirits Competition Winner: Silver Medal in the ‘Extra Aged Rum’ Category and Bronze Medal for Yolo Silver in the ‘White Rum’ category – Yolo 10 and Yolo Silver
2016 RumXP Panel Winner at the Miami Rum Festival Winner: Gold MEdal Winner for RumXP Best in Class for Aged Rums and named Best Aged Rum by a Consumer Jury – Yolo Gold
2017 Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA) 74th Annual Convention and Exposition: Gold Medal Winner in Spirits Tasting Competition – Yolo Gold
2017 New York World Wine and Spirits Competition: Gold and Silver Medal Winners: Yolo Rum Gold, Yolo Rum Silver and Yolo Rum Clear, respectively.
2017 San Diego Spirits Festival and International Competition: Gold and Silver Medal Winner – Yolo Rum Gold and Yolo Rum Clear, respectively.
2017 Global Spirit Awards: Gold and Silver Medal Winner – Yolo Silver and Yolo Gold, respectively.
2018 San Francisco World Spirits Competition: Winner Double Gold Medal and Bronze Medal Winner – Yolo Gold and Yolo Silver, respectively.
2018 Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America 75th Annual Convention and Exposition: Winner Silver Medal in the Spirits Tasting Competition – Yolo Silver
2018 New York World Wine and Spirits Competition: Winner Gold and Bronze Medals – Yolo Gold and Yolo Silver, respectively.

Sip on Proof that Excellence Comes in a Bottle…of Yolo Rum

Not all rum was created equal. Why is all the rum gone? Discover the difference and find your #RumLove with Yolo today!

Rum Love from Redman

The award winning Yolo Rum gets some #RumLove from Redman. He gave a shout out to our team of investors for the success that our Democracy Powered rum has had.

Yolo Rum is a Denver based company with Panamanian Rum blended and distilled in Panama by Don Pancho Fernandez. Yolo Rum is a Sugar Free, Gluten Free and Award Winning Rum.

Yolo Rum Awarded Two Medals at 2019 Proof Awards

Yolo Rum recently took part in the inaugural Proof (Pr%f) Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada. More than 30 spirit industry leaders and upwards of 500 spirits brands participated in the event during a two-day blind-tasting point-rating competition held at the Tivoli Village in the west part of Las Vegas on June 16-18, 2019. Yolo Rum was awarded with two medals in the competition, with Yolo Rum Gold winning a gold medal and Yolo Rum Silver winning a silver medal. 2019 Proof Awards winners are featured in the July 2019 issue of Food & Beverage Magazine. The recent awards now brings the medal count to 27 in international competition.

The awards competition was open to spirits brands, domestic and international, with nearly 100 categories to enter. All spirits were rated on a proprietary 100-point system crowning medals to those who scored 70 points or above. (Bronze: 70 – 79 (Daily Drinker); Silver: 80-89 (Praise); Gold: 90-95 (Highly Recommended); Double Gold: 96-99 (Superlative) and Century Award: 100 Points-A Perfect Score (Highest Honor, Unparalleled, Peerless.)

The idea behind the PR%F Awards was to create an avenue to introduce spirits brands to key decision makers in the liquor industry, and therefore, all 2019 Proof Awards judges were mainstream liquor buyers, distributors, and industry leaders with buying decision capability. Our judges hailed from 11 different states and hospitality arenas – Delta Sky Clubs/Delta Airlines, Young’s Market Company, The Sugar Factory, Hard Rock International, Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, Spec’s, Breakthru Beverage Group, Good Spirits Distribution, BevStrat, Inc., Liquid Distributors-GA, Burke Distribution, RLED, LLC, Caesars Palace, Boyd Gaming, Sheraton, ARK 1521, The Strat Casino Hotel & Tower, Downtown Project-DTP, Alicart Restaurant Group (Carmine’s Italian, Virgil’s BBQ), Giordano’s Pizza-Corporate and Marque Media.

All spirits were evaluated in NEAT, the official judging glass, scientifically designed to deliver the best aromas for evaluation and enjoyment.

Yolo Rum Awarded Two Gold Medals at 2019 SIP Awards

2019 SIP Awards recognize Yolo Gold and Silver each with Gold Medals

The winners of the 2019 SIP awards were recently announced, and we are happy to report that both Yolo Rum Gold and Yolo Rum Silver were awarded with Gold medals in their respective categories. The Gold medal celebrates spirits that demonstrated a noteworthy performance in a double blind tasting with a diverse consumer panel. With scores in the upper division, Gold medal spirits are strongly recommended. Yolo Rum Gold received a Gold medal in the Extra-Aged Rum (5 years and older) category, while Yolo Rum Silver received a Gold medal for the White Rum category.

The Spirits International Prestige (SIP) Awards is the only international spirits competition judged by consumers based on their honest and unbiased feedback through a blind tasting. This years SIP Awards judging panel was comprised of 146 consumer judges. The SIP Awards 146 judges are selected to ensure demographic diversity and screened for any potential spirit brand affiliation. A proprietary algorithm is used to mitigate any palate inconsistencies. The results are judged specifically by industry outsiders. As the only blind tasting competition of its kind, the SIP Awards offers a fair platform for top brands to showcase their products to their most discerning audience. The 2019 competition saw 977 spirits and mixers entered in 93 different categories.

This most recent successful outcome for Yolo Rum in International Competition brings the medal count to 25, which prompted CFO John Granville to ponder out loud that the only limitation to the amount of awards that we could win is only throttled by the amount of competitions that we enter. Well stated sir! In even the stiffest of competition, the cream rises to the top, and the view is nice from up here! Won’t you join us?! Cheers! Yolo!!!

Don Pancho Fernandez and Yolo Rum Featured on Liquor.com

The intrigue surrounding the legend of Don Pancho continues to grow.

Don Pancho Fernandez is a man of few words, and he would prefer to let his rum do the talking. This living legend of the rum world was recently profiled along with Yolo Rum CEO Philip Guerin on one of the most authoritative and visited websites in the liquor industry, Liquor.com. In the article, Philip provides insight to article author Nickolaus Hines as they detail the journey that led to working with one of the most highly sought-after rum blenders in the world.

Follow the link to see the full feature on Don Pancho and Yolo Rum on Liquor.com.

Yolo Rum Featured in Denver Life Magazine 2018 Holiday Gift Guide

Check out the ultimate 2018 Denver holiday gift guide to satisfy anyone on your shopping list.

Each year the fine folks over at Denver Life Magazine scour the local Colorado landscape for fun and local gift ideas for the holiday season. This year’s edition featured none other than Yolo Rum, as well as many other local favorites including New Belgium Brewing, Infinite Monkey Theorem, Distillery 291, Denver Beer Co. and more.

Here are more than 50 clever ideas for gifts— all of them (well, almost all) with Colorado ties.

Follow the link to view the full 2018 Denver Life Magazine Holiday Gift Guide.

Yolo Rum 'Relaunch' a Success in Colorado

Yolo Rum just relaunched its award winning brand in the Colorado market with huge success. In just 30 days Yolo Rum gained over 200 new accounts with more than 300 cases placed throughout state. With the help of our distribution company New Age Beverage, we are in more locations in the Mile High City than ever before. So if you have been looking for Yolo Rum now is your chance to go out and, GET SOME!

Check out our locations page and use our Yolocator to find Yolo Rum at a store or restaurant near you, who are now proudly selling and serving our 23 time international award winning rum.
You Only Live Once. Cheers!

Yolo Rum Wins Gold and Bronze Medals at 2018 New York World Wine and Spirits Competition

Yolo Rum Gold won another gold medal at the 2018 New York World Wine and Spirits Competition while Yolo Rum Silver received a bronze medal. The New York World Wine and Spirits Competition, San Francisco International Wine Competition and the San Francisco World Spirits Competition are considered the “Triple Crown” of contests of their kind.

The event marks the first time that NYWSC fell under the umbrella of The Tasting Alliance. The new group was formed when Anthony Dias Blue’s respected San Francisco World Spirits Competition (SFWSC) and San Francisco International Wine Competition (SFIWC) acquired full ownership of the NYWSC.

"Last Call" to Invest in Sugar Free, Gluten Free, Award Winning Yolo Rum.

Equity Crowdfund Campaign on Wefunder set to end at the end of the day on Friday, August 31st.

Over 900 investors have participated in an extremely successful equity crowdfund campaign on Wefunder. The campaign will officially end Friday, August 31st, so there is a very limited time to take advantage of the opportunity to own part of a “democracy powered” spirits company. Recent press about rum points to a positive trend and a bright future for the expanding rum and craft spirit explosion.

Yolo Rum has focused on the benefits of the crowdsource opportunities that the crowdfund has generated. Yolo Rum investors have exclusive access to a monthly investors meeting/webinar and vote on relevant issues, live.

To invest in Yolo Rum, follow this link to go directly to the Yolo Rum Equity Crowdfund on Wefunder.

Follow this link to read more about the Yolo Rum Equity Crowdfund Campaign on Marketwatch.

Yolo Rum Trademark Issued After a 5-and-a-Half-Year Process

The Yolo Rum Trademark adds to the growing collection of intellectual property.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued the Yolo Rum trademark, 5 1/2 years after it was filed in December 2012. Sounding like a true entrepreneur, Yolo Rum founder Philip Guerin confidently states, “Our Yolo Rum trademark was worth the fight, it is an incredible piece of IP (intellectual property), to add to our collection. We have the premier, rapidly emerging brand in the market and the best rum, too.”

News of the trademark, follows in line with a very noteworthy and ambitious agenda, which includes; major distribution expansion, and a crowdfunding campaign on Wefunder.

“We want to be the first major spirit brand that is ‘Democracy Powered’. Invest your money, and more importantly your talent, to our movement!” Guerin boldly says.

Follow the link to read more about the Yolo Rum Trademark issuance.