Zan is the Commercial Manager – Spirits for Worthy Park Estate. He comes from a Chinese – Jamaican background, grew up just outside of Toronto, Canada… the first generation of his family to be born in Canada. He grew up there but left once he graduated university to work in the hotel industry… which, eventually, brought him to the beautiful Worthy Park Estate…
FRS: Tell us about your personal rum journey.
Zan: I’ve been surrounded by rum throughout my life. It was always interesting to see the contrast towards rum (and alcohol in general) growing up in Canada but spending almost all of my vacation time in Jamaica where rum is a part of the culture. All that to say, I’ve always been surrounded by rum – but was completely and totally biased towards Jamaican rum (I mean, I still am…). I had the luxury of not starting to drink rum with a “cheap mixer” type but my starter rum was Jamaica rum! Working in the hotel industry I spent most of my time in the F&B side of the business so my relationship with rum (and bars) came from the purchasing and operational side. but never thought of making a career of it until I started working with Worthy Park.
FRS: What brought you to join the Worthy Park team?
Zan: Fate, serendipity maybe? I was working at my previous job and ran into Gordon Clarke the CEO and Managing Director for Worthy Park. I was ready for a change and he happened to be ready to start expanding his team and opening the export department. He took a chance on me and I have been here going on 6 years now.
FRS: Worthy Park is best known for their historic expressions of Jamaican rums… Do you have a clear favorite when it is time to sit down and sip at the end of the day?
Zan: That’s like asking who my favorite child is. If it is just me and my glass I’d probably go with Worthy Park Single Estate Reserve. Although my go-to has been Worthy Park Select and ice since we launched it a couple months back. If I can get my hands on some lime (it’s out of season right now) I’ll definitely go with an Overproof Daiquiri. Maybe I will split base it with Rum-Bar Gold if I want to have a couple. So to answer your question, no, I guess I don’t have a favourite!
FRS: Is there anything upcoming that you are truly excited about (even if you can only give us hints)?
Zan: So much! We’ve got a lot in the pipeline for releases this year. I can say I’m super stoked that we’re getting Rum Cream in market and I think the 109 Proof is going to turn some heads (in a positive way) when people get their hands on it. Now, I can’t get into specifics, but we are super excited for the barrel picks that are coming out. It sounds so common, especially for any of the bourbon fans out there but for us the first time we’ve done this so it took a bit to get off the ground but I can say that they’re on their way to the US of A!
FRS: Before the “COVID times”, you traveled a lot, sharing the good word of rum… When travel starts to be welcomed back to the world is there anywhere that you just cannot wait to pack your bags and head off to?
Zan: At this point I’m on a plane the first chance I get to go anywhere LOL. Well from the personal side, I definitely want to get the kids up to visit Grandma in Canada, they usually saw her for a few months at a time but obviously we’ve been kept apart of the past year+. From the work perspective, I hear there is some fun stuff going on in Florida. Would love to get there as soon as I can. On that note, 2020 was the year I was supposed to spend a lot of time working in that market but maybe 2021 will be the year.
On the global scene, I’m dying to get out to London. It’s one of my favourite cities out there and it’ll probably be high on my visit list once the world opens up. Oh, but how can I forget about Paris! The energy of that city is super contagious. Never mind the fact that I love to eat.
FRS: When not sipping rum what do you enjoy doing in Jamaica?
Zan: Do you want the fun, travel around the island, beach hopping, hotel staying, waterfall chasing, mountain climbing, forest exploring story? Or the going cooking dinner for the kids and in bed by 9pm story?
I joke, kind of. The beauty of Jamaica is in the raw-ness of Jamaica. Yes, we’re a country that is heavily indebted and lacks the conveniences of the first world so there is a much different pace of life down here. We have some bustling city centers, like Kingston, where a lot of the arts thrive; and you have the huge, all inclusive resorts on the north coast; but far and wide my favourite side of Jamaica is the rural side. I love getting out into the hillside and finding some rivers and waterfalls amongst the beautiful flora and fauna of the island. Your reminded that not having cell service or a Frappuccino is not necessarily a bad thing.
FRS: Rumor has it that you once crashed a Ben Jones Virtual Happy Hour and gave him a (friendly) hard time… if someone was to crash your VHH and bump you off you’re a-game who would that be?
Zan: OHHH yes, I forgot about that! I love Ben and have so much respect for him and the Spiribam team. But yes, I love to give him shit at any chance I get. I’d probably say if you got an Ian Burrell crash – he’d probably bump me off because it’s hard to get a word in versus him. Or a Maggie Campbell, just because she’s so damn knowledgeable and could definitely stump me in pretty much any subject!
FRS: MANY FRS members are hoping to travel to Jamaica when things open back up… besides a visit to the WP estate, what else should they not miss when visiting your beautiful island?
Zan: So much to visit! But I’d say you definitely need to get out to some of the rum bars that are around the island. The vibe and the energy are so different than what your used too in Florida. Plus you have to find your favourite jerk chicken spot, there’s so many across the island and all have their own secret recipes. Also, just as a general tidbit of knowledge – the spots you see cooking in the drum pans (the oil pans cut and turned on their side). This is pan chicken. Which is NOT jerk chicken but it’s own thing. I guess you could say some pan chicken can be jerk, but not all pan chicken IS jerk chicken. The authentic Jerk chicken is smoked over pimento wood. Both are very good, but very different!
FRS: There have been whispers of a collaboration between Worthy Park and your favorite rum community, the FRS… any truth to those rumors?
Zan: ….
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