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PROFILE
NORTH COUNTY BUSINESS JOURNAL
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FALL 2015
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sdnedc.org
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How did you first become involved in
the craft spirits industry?
Rum has always been my drink of
choice. I was in my second year of busi-
ness school at UCI when I started thinking
about what I might be able to do. I knew I
wanted to make a product and when I
kept reading about spirits deregulation
spreading across the United States, it just
kind of clicked. I knew I had to be ahead
of the changing laws, the timing was per-
fect, and the product was a no-brainer:
rum! My wife and I immediately started
home-brewing and attending distillation
training courses through the American
Distilling Institute.
How would you explain your busi-
ness in layman's terms? What does The
California Spirits Company do?
Simply put we make rum, but there is
so much more to it than that. I wish all I
had to do was make rum! I spend maybe
10 percent of my time on production. The
rest is business: strategy, marketing, sales,
logistics, ordering supply, managing
warehouse space, the list is endless. The
thing that makes us different is our ap-
proach to making rum. We designed it to
improve a rum and coke. The flavors were
picked to complement the sweet flavors of
a cola. The other thing that makes us dif-
ferent is our approach to business. We
C
asey Miles gained an appreciation for a great rum and Coke as an
18-year-old USAF airman stationed in the UK. Now, at the age of
38 and with a wife, three kids, an MBA, and his own business –
The California Spirits Company – to his name, Miles still finds
that his favorite drink is, you guessed it, rum – namely Avalon – and Coke.
We sat down with Miles to see just exactly what it means to run a distillery,
and how he plans on changing the game in the craft spirits industry.
HIGH SPIRITS
n CASEY MILES WANTS TO DO MORE THAN JUST MAKE GREAT
RUM — HE WANTS TO CHANGE THE INDUSTRY BY aManda WesTon
The California Spirits Company
owner Casey Miles (right) and
Vice President Alex Zgurovsky.
