Ja Rule On Amber & Opal, His New Honey Rye Whiskey Model

Ja Rule admits he wasn’t a whiskey drinker — till he launched his personal. 

“I’m probably not a heavy drinker like that,” says the Queens-born hip-hop icon. “I’ll drink a sip of wine, slightly pink wine, slightly white wine, and be straightforward with it.”

However in 2024, together with longtime buddies Herb Rice, Sandy Sandiford, and Kelvin Barton, Ja Rule launched his personal honey-infused rye whiskey, Amber & Opal, in Maryland. Now he hopes to broaden it throughout the nation. 

What drew a non-whiskey drinker to the spirits enterprise within the first place? It began off as an funding thought, says Ja Rule. “We purchased this warehouse filled with whiskey [in Ohio], and there have been barrels that had been ageing. We had been going to age them to seven years and promote them at a premium. What occurred was, a pink gentle goes off and [we say], let’s create a model, a enterprise with this.”

However after they determined they wished to create a distinct segment “honey botanical whiskey,” they had been suggested to not use the barrels they bought. (These barrels at the moment are being put to make use of for a 10-year-old “premium bourbon” that Amber & Opal will launch in a couple of years.) 

This led the foursome in a distinct course. Baltimore-based Rice, who Ja Rule calls a “whiskey connoisseur,” sought out a neighborhood distillery, and linked with the Baltimore Spirits Firm, which was based in 2015 with the “raison d’etre of bringing Maryland rye manufacturing again to it’s cultural residence.”

In partnership with the spirits firm, the founders settled on a mix of Maryland Straight Rye Whiskey — aged for 2 years in medium-charred oak barrels — with orange blossom honey and botanicals like lapsang souchong tea, cinnamon, ginger, and fig. The botanicals are sourced from one other Baltimore enterprise, Wight Tea Firm.

Rice says they tasted 30 kinds of honey to search out the one that might finest go well with the smokiness of the lapsang souchong and the pure spiciness of rye. Ja Rule provides that his entry-level palate and his buddies’ whiskey experience had been the proper “yin and yang” to create a whiskey that’s appropriate for each veteran drinkers and the “whiskey-curious.” 

“We wished an entry level for brand new whiskey drinkers,” says Ja Rule. Though their product is good, Rice notes that it isn’t a liqueur, however a flavored whiskey with a 80-proof spine.

They suggest serving it neat, with slightly ice, in a Gold Rush (which they name the “Amber Rush”), in an Outdated Usual, or in a rye whiskey riff on a Moscow Mule. 

“I’m a Mule man,” says Ja Rule. “I really like Moscow Mules. I do Mexican Mules [with tequila]. So now I’m doing whiskey Mules.”

The title of the model displays each the amber liquid contained in the bottle and the range that Ja Rule, Rice, Sandiford, and Kelvin hope to embody.

“Opal is a valuable stone that is available in varied hues, and that’s what we would like Amber & Opal to be about,” Ja Rule says. “We would like it to be about inclusivity and all-inclusive to all people. A number of occasions when individuals see it’s a Black-owned model, they assume meaning Black solely. We don’t need individuals to have a look at our model as that. It is a model [that is] first owned by 4 Black guys, however that is for everybody and we would like that to be our assertion.”

Along with Baltimore, Amber & Opal is now bought at Whole Wines areas in California, Florida, New York, and New Jersey, and in addition ships to 35 states by way of seelbach.com. They plan to finally broaden nationwide, says Ja Rule, however they’re not in a rush.

“We don’t wish to rush and do it the incorrect approach,” he says. “We wish to transfer very strategically, so we wish to personal our markets. Herb’s in Baltimore, Sandy’s out in Atlanta, I’m right here in New York and New Jersey.”

Ja Rule, who’s becoming a member of Nelly for parts of his “The place the Get together At” tour this summer time, plans to advertise the product at stops alongside the way in which, visiting Whole Wines areas through the daytime and assembly followers.

He additionally plans to launch a long-awaited album — his first in over a decade — in June. So how does releasing a whiskey examine to releasing an album?

“It’s very nerve-wracking when you could have a brand-new product and it’s a must to witness individuals making an attempt it for the primary time,” says Ja Rule. “It’d be the equal of me going onstage, performing a model new file,” he says along with his trademark husky snicker.

However the objective is probably extra easy.

“I wish to see lots of empty bottles.”

Baltimore Spirits Firm Amber & Opal Honey Botanical Whiskey; $69.99 for one 750-milliliter bottle at seelbachs.com