It was featured in the Nikkei.
In the small Southeast Asian nation of Laos, there is a single rum producer. Thanks to nearly two decades of trial and error by one Japanese individual, this rum has earned top honors at an international competition. Although Laos, a landlocked country, is still in the process of developing its industries, the producer strives to make this rum a famous local specialty.
LAODI features a design inspired by the “Tengu-ageha,” a butterfly native to Laos. Its scientific name means “emperor,” symbolizing the hope that this rum will one day reign among the world’s best (January, Vientiane).
About 50 kilometers east of central Vientiane, the nation’s capital, lies LAODI’s distillery on flat land surrounded by fields and forests. Mr. Ikuzo Inoue (70), the chairman and head distiller, works with fewer than 20 Lao employees to craft the rum.
In 2006, while Mr. Inoue was working as a salesman for a biotech equipment company in Hiroshima Prefecture, he was invited to Laos by a Japanese entrepreneur running a sewing factory there. Four other people joined. They were middle-aged and older individuals who had decided to leave their careers in Japan in pursuit of success in a new country.
Initially, they planned to produce biofuel from sugarcane, which is widely grown in Laos. However, to keep initial costs low, they switched to making rum. Although they could have made shochu, they chose rum because “its global market is on a completely different scale than shochu,” Mr. Inoue explains.
The reality was tough. None of the members had experience in making liquor. Serving as vice president at the time, Mr. Inoue attended a local university and studied books to learn the craft, but LAODI remained virtually unknown.
“We underestimated what it takes to make good liquor,” he recalls. Even when business failed to improve, the hard farm work continued every year. Gradually, the other members stopped visiting the site, and in 2015, they decided to disband.
Mr. Inoue stayed behind in Laos. He could not forget a French visitor’s cutting remark during a tasting, implying the rum was “fake.” Determined to create an authentic rum, he took over as leader, and the renewed LAODI was born.
First, he revamped the production process. They had been using shochu yeast for fermentation, producing a flavor similar to ginjo-style sake. He switched to a blend of wine yeast and rum yeast, choosing the best combination for a Western-style spirit rather than sticking to Japanese methods.
LAODI’s greatest feature is its use of 100% sugarcane juice in the “agricole” method. Most rum follows the “industrial” method, using molasses left after sugar crystals are extracted from cane juice. Agricole rum is rarer and retains a stronger sugarcane flavor.
While rum originated in the Caribbean, sugarcane there is exposed to salty sea breezes, often leaving a distinct briny aroma. In contrast, landlocked Laos is not affected by sea air, allowing the cane’s inherent qualities to fully emerge in the rum.
All this effort paid off in 2020 at the IWSC in London, one of the world’s three major liquor competitions. LAODI triumphed over leading global brands to win the highest-tier gold medal.
Some products are aged for three to four years in barrels previously used for wine or whiskey (January, Vientiane).
Now, about 300 visitors from Europe and the United States tour the distillery each year. While the award has opened sales channels in Japan and Europe, Mr. Inoue remains unsatisfied. “What matters most is creating a liquor that people will love for 20 or 30 years,” he says. His ultimate goal is to embed his rum into Lao culture for generations to come.
