Hue-Hue (pronounced way-way) Coffee Rum is made with fair-trade, single-origin coffee from the Finca El Paternal Estate in Huehuetenango, Guatemala. These 100% Arabica beans are lightly- roasted and COLD BREWED before blending with small batch silver rum and a trace amount of demerara sugar to balance the acidity of the coffee, making it the perfect barista-quality coffee rum.
As we brought the glass up for a sip, dark chocolate and baking spices dominated our senses. The aromatics transported us to rich volcanic Guatemalan hillsides where the coffee for Hue-Hue is grown. It was robust, acidic, and unmistakably coffee. With the first sip came something more tropical: a hint of banana and ripe stone fruit, and we found ourselves on white-sand Caribbean beaches; rum country. The finish was all chocolate covered raisins and that familiar moment of your entire body waking up with a warm cup of coffee.
A once small, sleepy rum importer founded in 2008 and tucked away on Portland’s celebrated distillery row is now the country’s first and only publicly traded craft distillery; NASDAQ: EAST. Over the span of 11 years we have developed, matured, perfected or acquired then launched many award-winning spirits while evolving to meet the growing demand for quality products and services associated with the burgeoning craft and premium beverage trade. Our portfolio includes originals like the Quercus Garryana barrel-finished Burnside Whiskey family, Hue-Hue Cold Brewed Coffee Rum, Portland Mule canned cocktails, Outlandish CBD Seltzers & Tonics and Azuñia Organic Tequilas. Our mission is to bring premium beverages to the masses, not the few.
In addition to our passion projects within the Eastside family of brands, we have strategically enhanced our capabilities to bring new and trending products to the market with the acquisitions of Big Bottom Distilling, Motherlode Bottling Services, Craft Canning + Bottling and Azuñia Tequila, from Intersect Beverage. Each of these subsidiaries functions as an aid to our mission. Specializing in batch and bulk distillation, Big Bottom Distilling excels in the artistry of spirit design with accolades amassed for quality and taste. Relocating to Motherlode’s co-packing facilities in 2017 maximized our operations efficiencies and significantly decreased overhead. Craft Canning brings years of expertise to the business with their team of professional bottlers and operators. Serving Oregon, Washington and Colorado, they are the West’s premier source for contract packaging. Increasing our stake in others who share the same ideals and passion for what they do as we do has been tremendously rewarding to the company. Our greatest asset are the talented folks that we’ve picked up along the way. Without them there would be no Eastside.
Our reputation for quality and innovation precedes us and in 2018 we earned the attention of John Rich, half the country duo Big and Rich, to develop a specialty whiskeys for his Redneck Riviera brand. Redneck Riviera Whiskey won a gold medal for flavor at the Los Angeles International Spirit Awards has been sold into large chain stores in numerous states. The first brand extension, Granny Rich Reserve, an extra-aged expression of the original whiskey launched on Valentine’s Day of 2019 with much ado. We are honored to be a part of this project that gives a percentage of sales proceeds to Folds of Honor, a charitable foundation that awards scholarships to spouses and children of fallen veterans.
Each bottle of spirit is owed to a masterful team led by industry veteran Mel Heim, our Master Distiller/Blender who was one of the American craft spirit scene’s first female distillers. In addition, we are thrilled to have head distiller Travis Schoney running lead at the Big Bottom outpost and Master Distiller Salvador Rivera Cardona managing all aspects of production at the Miravalle Distillery in Guadalajara, MX . Check out the bios of some of our key players.
