by Marlon Madden
It was a bet with a friend, fuelled by his curiosity and ingenuity that led to the creation of his small business – RT’s Brewing and Company Ltd., creator of the increasingly popular premium Vodka Katspraddle. Founder of the locally produced sweet potato Vodka Raymond Thompson told Today’s BUSINESS that since its introduction three years ago, business has been growing despite some hiccups posed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Katspraddle recently hit the shelves at a few new stores as well as the duty free at the Grantley Adams International Airport. Some retailers are also said to be on the verge of taking the product.
“I am very grateful for the new people who have come on board to take Katspraddle,” said Thompson, who recently took part in the business fair and expo hosted by the Ministry of Energy and Business Development.
The self-taught engineer began on the path of making alcohol for consumption after his quest to study aircraft engineering in England did not materialise.
“That is why I came back to Barbados. I came back to Barbados and just decided ‘Raymond, just do something in this country that nobody ever did’, and that is the line I went down, to do something that no one has ever done and to take the risk to do it,” he recalled.
“It all started because I used to make diesel from cooking oil and when I came back here from England I decided to make gasoline for my mother’s car that I was driving. It was too much to make gasoline and it tasted good. It tasted like Wray and Nephew white rum so I turned around and was drinking it with my friends
“A friend and I had a bet that we can take sweet potatoes and make sweet potato vodka. After that I bought some sweet potatoes and started to make it and by the Christmas of that year, in 2018, I had something drinkable that tasted good,” he reminisced.
The January of the following year, the product was brought to market, and while Thompson knew he had done his research and that he had a good product, he was surprised by the overwhelming response.
“I started to market it and it ended up being a fairly good product,” he said.
However, Thompson told Today’s BUSINESS that during the height of the pandemic, which started to affect the island in March 2020, there was naturally a fall-off in business given that people were not socialising as a result of the national restrictions that were put in place.
“During the COVID it was a little slow because people weren’t really socialising and Bajans drink socially. Now that the country is opening back up and the support I have from the Bajan public, I am getting through okay right now. I am not making money but I am doing a lot better than I was doing during COVID times,” said Thompson.
With all the talk in Barbados now about limiting sugar intake, Thompson said he was proud to be able to produce a product to which he did not have to add sugar.
“It is sugar free. Yes, it is from a sweet potato but the sugar is converted to alcohol so it doesn’t have that sugar content in it. A lot of other alcohol, some of them add sugar or glycerine to make it easier on the pallet but with this it is not anything like that,” he said.
In 2021, Katspraddle, which boasts 40 per cent alcohol content, won silver in the UK in the International Wine & Spirits Competition (IWSC).
According to Thompson, Katspraddle, a Bajan word, means ‘to fall hard’, just how the locally produced Vodka promises to leave anyone who consumes it. “You will fall hard in love with it,” he quipped.
Thompson, who currently works with a team of four full-time and part-time workers and sources his potatoes locally, said it was his plan to expand production as the demand increases locally, regionally and internationally. He encourages anyone who wishes to start a business to simply “take the risk” and have a back-up plan. “If you have a dream take the risk but at least have something to fall back on if the risk doesn’t work,” he said.
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb
