Why Georgia could have taken leadership for AMBRU Campaign
This post was written before Recognition to Revenue (September 2026). Cite the working paper, not this page, as the current statement of the campaign.
Georgia is part of the story—orchards, cane country, coastal stills, and towns such as Dahlonega, Savannah, Valdosta, and East Ellijay. Caroline Porsiel originated the trail framework. She happens to live and work in Georgia, so the first mapping started there. That is a point of origin, not a claim of ownership.
A Trailblazer in Spirits Independence
Georgia’s claim to leadership begins nearly 300 years ago. Between 1734 and 1742, British Parliament imposed a ban on importing rum and brandies into the colony of Georgia—the first prohibition of its kind in any American colony. Rather than comply, Georgia’s settlers defied the law, firing up what were likely America’s earliest “illegal” stills to produce their own rum and brandy.
This wasn’t just rebellion; it was ingenuity. Decades before the Declaration of Independence in 1776, Georgia declared its “Spirit Independence” from Britain—fueled by brandy and rum, long before bourbon entered the scene.
That early break from imported spirits belongs in the national story. It does not make Georgia the owner of American Brandy and American Rum, or of AMBRu.
A Land That Can Grow Both
A land that can grow both
Georgia’s geography works for these two spirits. The southern coastal plains can grow sugarcane, the old backbone of rum. The Southern Appalachian foothills in the north grow apples and grapes—the fruit behind brandy. Few states hold both in one map. That is why the first trail sketch started here. It is not why the trail ends here.
Gilmer County has more vineyards than any county east of Texas and south of Virginia. People already call it an East-Coast Napa. That mix of mountains, fruit, and coastal cane is why Georgia can make both brandy and rum.
Atlanta is a gateway. Visitors can start there and run from Savannah to the Appalachians. That is a strong first leg. It is not the whole American Brandy & Rum Trail. The map AMBRu is building toward is national. Georgia is on it. Georgia does not own it.
An Industry Worth Building
This isn’t just about pride—it’s economics. Bourbon gave Kentucky a named spirit and a trail visitors can follow, with billions in activity and millions of guests. Georgia has the cane, the fruit, and the history to take part in that kind of future for brandy and rum.
Designation would not make these Georgia’s spirits. It would make them American spirits with a name and a quality people can trust. That is how distillers, farms, and towns get a real industry—not by one state claiming the category.
Consider the potential: Georgia rum can taste like coastal cane. Georgia brandy can taste like North Georgia apples and grapes. Spirits tied to place stand apart. That is Georgia’s contribution to an American name—not a claim that Georgia owns the category. Kentucky did not give the country bourbon so one state could lock the door. Georgia should not try to lock brandy and rum.
Why Georgia is the story
Does Georgia matter to American brandy and rum? Yes. The colony was early to both grapes and cane, and early to stills of its own. That history belongs in the national story. It does not make these Georgia-led specialties. It makes Georgia one of the places where the story started.
Economically, it is a chance to turn a forgotten legacy into a working trade. The AMBRu Campaign is not only a nod to the past. It is a step toward American Brandy and American Rum competing on their own name and their own quality—at home and on the global map—with Georgia on that map, not at the head of it.
Georgia’s colonial stills and its cane, apples, and vineyards belong in the story of American rum and brandy the way Kentucky’s landscape belongs to bourbon. They do not make Georgia the leader of AMBRu. Recognition is not a prize for whichever state moves first.
Whether these spirits should be distinctive products of the United States is a national question. We want that designation. We want it together—on their own name and their own quality, at home and on the global map. AMBRu is here for that conversation.
Author: caro
Caroline Porsiel is co-founder of the AMBRu Campaign and author of the Recognition to Revenue framework, working to advance recognition of American Brandy and American Rum and build a national American Brandy & Rum Trail.