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Philly Fans: Better Flavor, Healthier Ingredients, – KLYR Rum Poured throughout Pennsylvania, Exclusive interview with Adam Lehrhaupt

Local Spirit KLYR Rum gets poured throughout Pennsylvania with better flavor, healthier Ingredients.

Adam Lehrhaupt, Amish Patel, and Neil Kahrim started a Pennsylvania-based spirits company with the simple goal of creating a better-tasting American rum.

As they started adjusting their recipe for flavor, they soon found health benefits and great cocktail and food pairings.  The result? A purer, cleaner rum, with a flavor they claim creates its own genre. 

One thing’s for sure, Pennsylvania cocktail lovers are ordering more and more.

The following is a conversation (via zoom) with Adam Lehrhaupt.  The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.  Find the full, un-edited talk at our Youtube channel.

 

Let’s start by saying you’re in a car right now and can you tell us why you’re in a car right now?

 

Adam: Yeah, so I’m in a car right now because today’s a big day for any sports people, but especially in the Philadelphia area. 

KLYR Rum being poured at a Phillies game

We’ve got a 1 o’clock Phillies game. And as a rum company, we like to go down to those games when we can and just hang out at the ballpark and buy rum for people. Introduce them [to our KLYR Rum brand]. Either something they’ve never had before or if they are already a fan, getting them another one. So I’m heading down to the ballpark today to catch a ballgame and hang out with some Phillies fans. And then tonight, we’ve got the draft, so the ballgame will roll over into some fun at Xfinity Live. So we’ve got our products in Xfinity Live now.

So we’ll pop over there and roll into a little bit of draft night. See who everybody’s favorite football teams draft. 

I love your guerrilla marketing style.  You’re out there meeting the people.

 

Adam: [Points to his shirt] This is my Phillies KLYR shirt.  It’s our KLYR K, but it’s in the Phillies pin stripes. I don’t know if you can see it’s got the Philly pin stripes on it. 

Tell us about the KLYR brand itself and what you’re trying to accomplish.

 

Adam: Basically the idea for creating KLYR rum and I’ll start back at the beginning. One of my two main business partners, his name’s Amish Patel. He is a dentist. He grew up as a dentist. His dad is a dentist. His brother’s a dentist. Thirteen cousins are dentists. There’s nine more in dental school. He has another group of cousins who all work in dental laboratories.

So they make dentures and things like that. So he comes from a dental family in Pennsylvania. I think they’re around 93 offices now in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, the mid-Atlantic region.

He came to me over Covid and said he was done being a dentist and he wanted to do something different. And he had a friend who had been in the spirits industry, somebody he went to high school with, who created Whistle Pig and he said, I wanna create spirits. 

And I said, first of all I’m in for anything spirits related,  I’m a big fan and I went back and did a little bit of research to see what the market needed. So everything that we do is market driven, so we do research and figure out not what we think it needs.

What the market did have was a big kind of opening a gap in the Silver Rum area for something that was just very well made, but had flexibility. So a really good clean tasting silver rum didn’t really exist. So we set about trying to create it and that’s where KLYR Rum came from.

 

Now tell me a little bit about your background and the team itself. How the three of you got together.

 

Adam: So my current day job, when I’m not helping run this run business, is I write children’s books. So I’m a children’s book author.

Before that I was a senior art director for a company called Siemens Healthcare. Before that I was a roadie, but currently I’m a children’s book author and in my spare time I play hockey. That’s my little outlet for my extra energy. It’s my cardio when I’m working out.

And that’s where I met Amish. We all played against each other for years. And then finally a couple years ago, we ended up getting him onto my hockey team and we became pretty good friends. And when he presented this idea, I came back to him with rum as an idea.

He said, I have this guy I went to high school with. His name is Neil Kareem who’s from Trinidad. Let me get him on the phone. So we’re at lunch and he calls Neil and gets Neil on the phone and he goes, Neil, what do you think about, rum?

And Neil goes yeah, I like rum. Rum’s great. He goes, what about making rum? And Neil’s okay let’s figure it out. So really Neil and I were the ones who kinda went away for about five or six months and figured out how the whole distilling process worked, figured out how to build a distillery, put together all the numbers, and then Neil went out to try to find us a master distiller.

KLYR Rum Distiller Lexi Close

KLYR Rum Distiller Lexi Close

And he found somebody that we both really liked. And she agreed to meet us and we did this meeting and we just clicked right away. As it turned out, she was working for her family’s distillery, so we couldn’t hire her away at that time. But we did start working with her –  her name’s Lexi Close and Lexi took my ideas and the flavor profiles I was talking about and the way that I described it to her, because it didn’t exist.

So I described it through other spirits.  I wanted something with the clean taste of vodka or tequila, right? So I needed to keep that body that you get, but with the sugar of rum. You needed to have the mouthfeel of rum. What I wanted to lose was that harshness. There’s a harshness to rum that most people hide behind sugar.

It used to happen a lot with tequila as well.  Luckily, Lexi’s a big tequila person, so she saw the change in tequila [from years ago, it’s much better now]. 

But she understood when I was talking about harsh tequila and she went about trying to [fix it]. She and I worked together. My work was just tasting it and making suggestions. She worked really hard.

She managed to create this whole new category of product that we are calling American Rum. To differentiate it from Caribbean style rum.  We wanted to really delineate that this was something unique and different and it wasn’t like something you’d had before.

 

So let’s talk a little bit about flavors and the cans themselves, the process of making them?

 

Adam: Let’s start with how we got there first. Because when I started thinking of what drinks I would make with this great rum I was thinking summertime. A little sugar-free lemonade.

Then I came up with this idea for a drink at the ballpark.  I called it “Clear sky”, so it had a little blue curacao in the lemonade, it was like a light blue kind of color. 

We had that all last summer (2022) at Citizens Bank Park. Then we’re also up at the Iron Pigs Coca-Cola park where the Iron Pigs play in Bethlehem. 

It was really light for a lemonade. It didn’t have a lot of sugar in it. I wanted to create that as one of our first cans. Then we were gonna do the traditional Orange Crush.  Orange Crush is the big flavor down at the Jersey Shore towards the middle of last summer.

I expect it to be even bigger this year with all the peach crushes and everything that is happening. There’s a whole crush bar live now that’s how popular these are. 

So we go in and we’ve got our flavor guy, Mike.  He was concocting the mixes for us, and I wanted to keep them below 99 calories. That was very important to me, to go after the seltzer market, ready to drink’s or the White Claws. They’re basically made with cheap alcohol, hidden behind bubbles.

So we sat down and we started trying these lemonades, [testing for the] right amount of flavor. I tried the low flavor lemonade and I went, hold on, can you do this, but  20% less flavor?

I’m thinking we can get it to taste like water and it will be KLYR water. With the partnership with the Phillies, we’ve got Clearwater in Clearwater, right? Because that’s where they hold spring training. 

He really took a lot of the flavoring out and basically something that tastes like ice cold water with a twist of lemon in it.  So that was how we came up with that first flavor. 

Then we had to create Crush. We did; and I thought it was good, but it was 99 calories. It had a lot of flavor to it, like an orange crush.  As we’re going through and I’m drinking them, I’m [always] throwing in another shot of KLYR. 

So when we decided to expand the water line to four flavors: the original OG water that has light, lemon flavor.

We have a tangerine water, which is really subtle, but it’s got sweeter, tangerine flavor to it. Still less than 99 calories. 

Passion fruit which has got a little bit of that sour pop that passion fruit has.

Then the last one I really wanted to do a spa water, so we did cucumber mint.  Which  is my new go-to. I drink it all the time. 

I knew that we wanted the flavors to be unique and different. 

I didn’t want it to be sweet. When you get more full flavored, it ends up being more than 99 calories.

So the crush line became 6.5% [alcohol]. Because as I said, I kept adding an extra shot of KLYR to it. We could lower the sugar that we put in to give the flavor body so that we would get that kind of Crush body when you’re drinking it.

So they’re 6.5 %, they’re only 190 calories. We’ve got Orange Crush, Pineapple Smash Berry Lemonade Blast and Fruit Punch, which is like a tropical fruit punch. This is the juice bag of my youth. So I created those for people who like a little more pop, a little more flavor, and for anybody who goes into a bar and orders that double or triple IPA.

 

Is that why you didn’t want it sweet,  for the calories?

 

Adam: No, I didn’t want it sweet because I don’t wanna hide the rum.  I want you to be able to taste the rum. The flavorings might be great, but the rum is what we’re showcasing. So whatever we made, I wanted you to be able to still get those hints of the rum and enjoy that flavor as you’re drinking it.

 

For foodies, food pairing wise, what have been some great food combinations?

 

Adam: Let me go through the flavors of the crush line, because it splits, I think about them as like red wine and white wine. 

So the water line is like a white wine. So you can have the waters with pizza, pasta, fish.

The Orange Crush and even the Pineapple Smash with Indian food or Mexican food where you have that spice but a little of that sweetness cuts through it and you have the body of the rum on the finish. Those things come out really well together.

[Now Adam has parked and is walking through their KLYR Rum office]

How much of your office is Pennsylvania based? Where’s your distiller?

Adam: Our distillery is in Lewisberry, so that’s in Pennsylvania out by Harrisburg.

Our headquarters is in Westchester.  I am here in Bluebell. Keith is based in Quakertown.

 

Where can we find you? Where can we buy, where can we shop? Where can we follow?

 

Adam: In Pennsylvania we’re available through the PLCB (Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board).

We’re in 30 different stores right now, but we’re in the distribution centers, so anybody who doesn’t have it in their PLCB store order it to have it delivered to them. 

If you are in the greater Philadelphia, Eastern PA area, as far as Bethlehem and out towards Harrisburg we do home delivery.

We have a whole thing on our website everywhere that you can find it. So you can put in your zip code and it’ll tell you where you can get it near you.

In Eastern and Central Pennsylvania use the code: Adam2023 at checkout and get up to 35% off you order.

Tell us which social media channels you’re on and how to find you on there?

 

Adam: It’s KLYRRum on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and find us at KLYRRum.com

We support local first. So we’re a Pennsylvania company. That includes South Jersey.

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Is This the Dominican Ozama Rum Philly Didn’t Know It Needed? Big Papi Thinks So.

Is This the Dominican Ozama Rum Philly Didn’t Know It Needed? Big Papi Thinks So.

In a region that prides itself on loyalty, grit, and a good pour, Hall-of-Fame baseball legend David Ortiz—yes, “Big Papi” himself—is making a bold new play far from Fenway Park. But this time, it’s not with a bat. It’s with a bottle.

Ortiz has just launched Ozama Rum, a 100% Dominican-made, ultra-premium spirit that’s already raising eyebrows (and glasses) from Swarthmore to Chesterbrook. And while Philadelphia is famously a whiskey-and-beer town at heart, this rum is built to challenge your expectations—and maybe even your liquor shelf.

David Ortiz Dominican Ozama Rum

“To me, Ozama isn’t just about rum, it’s about identity, pride, and progress,” Ortiz says. “I wanted to build something that celebrates the energy and soul of my people and shows the world what we’re made of. It’s always been important for me to do things the right way, which is why this labor of love has been one of the most rewarding projects of my career. I can’t wait for people to try it! They say that perfection doesn’t exist, but you can get close to it.”

From Santo Domingo to the Schuylkill: Ozama Rum Arrives

Named after the Ozama River in Ortiz’s hometown of Santo Domingo, Ozama Rum is a full-circle project for the former MLB star. Every drop is born, aged, and bottled in the Dominican Republic—from fresh-pressed sugarcane to oak barrel aging (for a minimum of one year), with no shortcuts or outsourcing. It proudly carries the Ron Dominicano denominación de origen, certifying it as a true product of the island.

This isn’t the kind of celebrity-branded spirit you buy once and forget. It’s built for drinkers who care about craftsmanship, story, and serious flavor.

Ozama launches with three distinct expressions, each one capturing a different note in the Dominican rum legacy:

  • Ozama Blanco: Bright and crisp with citrus and a whisper of white pepper. Ideal for daiquiris, mojitos, or sipping neat in your backyard in Penn Wynne.

  • Ozama Añejo: A rich, copper-toned rum with hints of chocolate, toffee, and warm spice. Smooth enough to replace your bourbon in an Old Fashioned.

  • Ozama Gran Añejo: Silky and deep with notes of dates, raisins, honey, and fine wood. The kind of pour that deserves your best glass and a quiet evening.

With prices between $25 and $40 for a 700ml bottle, Ozama is positioned as an accessible indulgence—whether you’re picking it up from a premium bottle shop in Center City or mixing cocktails at a family cookout in Chesterbrook.

Rum’s Renaissance—and Philly’s Perfect Timing

According to Global View Research, the global rum market hit $11.77 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow by over 5.6% annually through 2030. Craft rum, in particular, is rising as consumers turn to artisanal, culturally rooted spirits. That’s good news for Philly, where diverse culinary traditions meet a growing appetite for unique, quality liquor—especially from Black- and Latinx-owned brands.

Ozama Rum fits the moment. And Ortiz isn’t just a face on the label. He worked closely with Dominican distillers and Abbott Wolfe, CEO of Drink2Success, to ensure the product had integrity, vision, and real impact.

“From day one, David had a clear vision to create an ultra-premium rum that feels authentic, vibrant, and undeniably Dominican—it was important to him to spotlight the Dominican Republic and at the same time give back to the community that raised him,” Wolfe said.

A Spirit That Gives Back

Beyond its refined flavor, Ozama carries a mission. Two percent of its profits will be directed to cleanup efforts around the Ozama River and to community-building projects in the Dominican Republic. It’s the kind of built-in social impact that resonates with Philly’s values-driven drinkers—especially younger generations.

Where to Try Ozama Rum in Philadelphia

Ozama is available now at drinkozama.com and is beginning to roll out in select stores and venues in the Northeast—including Pennsylvania. While you may not see it on every bar in Old City just yet, insiders say local mixologists are already experimenting with it behind the scenes.

Expect to see Ozama popping up at Latin-inspired restaurants in South Philly, rooftop lounges in Rittenhouse, and maybe even your next tailgate in FDR Park.

Final Thoughts: Philly’s Rum Moment Starts Here

Ozama Rum isn’t trying to be flashy. It’s not a gimmick. It’s a high-quality, hand-crafted, heritage-driven spirit with a story as deep as its flavor—and Big Papi’s passion is in every bottle.

“They say that perfection doesn’t exist,” Ortiz says. “But you can get close to it.”

In Philly, where we respect heart, hustle, and something with real roots? That might be close enough.


Would you like to add a sidebar with cocktail recipes or recommendations for where Ozama might pair best with Philly cuisine?

WWE and Seagram Escape Spiked Just Tag Teamed on a Boozy Banger—and Philly’s First in Line to Crack It Open

WWE and Seagram Escape Spiked Just Tag Teamed on a Boozy Banger—and Philly’s First in Line to Crack It Open

Wrestling and beer. If there’s a better pairing for the City of Brotherly Love, we haven’t found it yet.

In a move that’s got South Philly popping and the Northeast buzzing, WWE has officially entered the beverage ring with its first-ever ready-to-drink alcoholic product, and they’re doing it with flavor-forward heavyweight Seagram’s Escapes Spiked. The two icons just dropped a multi-year partnership, and the new WWE-branded drinks are already hitting shelves all over Philly.

Whether you’re grabbing a cold one for a backyard wrestling watch party in Fishtown, tailgating before a WWE Live event at the Wells Fargo Center, or just stocking the fridge at your neighborhood deli, the new Seagram’s Escapes Spiked WWE Series is made to hit like a chair shot—and go down smoother than a Stone Cold stunner.

Philly’s Wrestling Legacy Meets Its New Favorite Drink

Let’s not forget—Philadelphia is wrestling royalty. This city gave us ECW. We’ve packed the Spectrum, sold out the Wells Fargo Center, and brought serious heat to WWE, AEW, and every indie fed that’s dared to step between the ropes. So it’s only fitting that Philly gets to be one of the first cities to crack open WWE’s newest creation.

Seagram’s has a rich history of innovation and a deep commitment to authenticity, making it the ideal partner to go to market with our first-ever licensed ready-to-drink product,” said Grant Norris-Jones, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Partnerships for TKO Group Holdings, WWE’s parent company. “Philly fans bring unmatched passion—and we wanted to bring this launch to cities that know how to show up.”

Show up? This is Philly. We throw snowballs at Santa. We boo our own draft picks. And we’ve been showing up loud for wrestling for decades.

The Flavor Card: A Main Event Lineup

Seagram’s Escapes Spiked WWE Series debuts with three bold, bodyslam-worthy flavors that were clearly designed with Philly’s taste buds in mind. This isn’t your average backyard seltzer. These are full-flavored malt beverages, and they’re coming in hot:

  • Rumble Punch™ – A remix of the classic Jamaican Me Happy, this flavor brings strawberry, watermelon, lemon, and guava together in one tropical haymaker. It’s the kind of drink you’d sip while screaming “E-C-Dub!” in a backyard kiddie pool in Kensington.

  • Pineapple Powerhouse™ – With juicy pineapple, cherry, and lime, this flavor feels like the afterparty to a surprise cash-in—sweet, citrusy, and absolutely electric. Perfect for rooftop parties in Northern Liberties or tailgates at the Linc.

  • Slammin’ Blueberry™ – A tag-team blend of blueberry and lemon that hits crisp and clean, made for easy drinking during a hot August night watching SummerSlam.

Each flavor is 8% ABV, unapologetically bold, and available now in Philly-area retailers, from Center City liquor shops to corner delis in South Philly.

Superstars, Stores, and Citywide Showdowns

This isn’t just about cans on shelves. As part of the partnership, Seagram’s Spiked is now an Official Partner of WWE, meaning you’ll see the brand front and center during Premium Live Events like Money in the Bank® (June 7), SummerSlam®, and Survivor Series®.

Expect enhanced match sponsorships, custom digital content featuring your favorite WWE Superstars, and yes—in-person appearances from Superstars right here in Philly.

Imagine bumping into a former champ at your local Acme or grabbing a selfie with a WWE Superstar at your favorite beer distributor in the Northeast. It’s all on the table.

“Our collaboration with WWE marks an exciting moment for Seagram’s Spiked as we connect with WWE’s global audience—and Philly’s local fans who bring energy like nowhere else,” said Jaime Polisoto, brand director of Seagram’s Escapes. “Our sales team is thrilled to bring the excitement of WWE into Philadelphia’s stores and create unforgettable fan experiences.”

It’s Not Just a Drink. It’s a Pop.

Philly doesn’t do subtle. We do flavor. We do passion. And we do loyalty. That’s why this partnership works—it’s for fans who know every chant, who still talk about the time The Rock came through South Street, and who treat every PLE like it’s WrestleMania at the Vet.

So whether you’re cracking open a can after a shift in Brewerytown, posting up with friends in Fairmount, or pregaming in your Rhawnhurst backyard with your Bluetooth speaker on full blast, the WWE x Seagram’s Spiked Series is your new go-to.

It’s bold. It’s loud. It’s Philly.

And it just tagged in.

Taraji P. Henson’s Seven Daughters Moscato Sets Sail with Princess Cruises — and Philly’s Invited to the Party

Taraji P. Henson’s Seven Daughters Moscato Sets Sail with Princess Cruises — and Philly’s Invited to the Party

Taraji P. Henson is serving up more than fierce roles and red-carpet moments—now she’s pouring the perfect glass of Moscato, and she wants Philly to come sip it at sea.

That’s right, the award-winning actress, entrepreneur, and all-around queen just teamed up with Princess Cruises to bring her Seven Daughters Moscato to their Love Lines Premium Liquors Collection. And while she may be Hollywood royalty, Taraji’s wine is all heart—sweet, vibrant, and a whole lot of fun. Sound familiar, Philly?

“Seven Daughters is more than just a bottle of wine; it’s a celebration in a glass,” said Henson. “Our Moscato is inviting, refreshing, and perfect for moments of connection which is what makes this partnership with Princess Cruises so amazing. Now we can experience this feeling with people from around the world, whether they’re toasting under the stars or relaxing on the open sea.”

Let’s be real—after dodging potholes on Broad Street, waiting too long for your Wawa order, and sitting through another frustrating season of Philly sports (we still love you, Birds), you deserve a drink. And not just any drink—a crisp, lightly sweet Moscato with notes of tropical fruit and honeysuckle, made to help you unwind like you actually took a vacation day.

Princess Cruises knows a good thing when they taste it. “Princess Cruises is committed to curating distinctive, high-quality experiences for our guests, and Seven Daughters aligns seamlessly with that vision,” said Sami Kohen, VP of Food and Beverage. “Taraji’s Moscato reflects a bold yet approachable style that we know our guests will love.”

Translation? This wine’s got the same attitude as a Philly native in line at Reading Terminal: real, bold, and a little bit sweet when it counts.

And don’t worry, Taraji isn’t rolling solo in this celebrity liquor squad. Her Seven Daughters joins a star-studded bar cart featuring Jason Momoa (yes, Aquaman) and Blaine Halvorson’s Meili Vodka, Camila and Matthew McConaughey’s Pantalones Organic Tequila, Blake Lively’s Betty Booze and Buzz, Liev Schreiber’s Sláinte Irish Whiskey, Jason Aldean’s Melarosa wines, Romero Britto’s Love Prosecco, and Kylie Minogue’s No Alcohol Sparkling Rosé.

Still, let’s keep it 100—none of them bring the same heat as Taraji. She’s got grit, glamour, and a wine that says, “let’s dance on the deck and then eat something greasy at midnight.”

And Philly folks? You don’t have to fly across the country to get in on the action. Princess Cruises offers sailings from nearby ports like Brooklyn and Baltimore, so you can trade I-95 traffic for ocean views real quick. Book a weekend cruise and suddenly, you’re sipping Seven Daughters while someone else does the cooking. Imagine that.

So whether you’re a Center City cocktail snob, a Fishtown foodie, or just someone who appreciates a damn good glass of wine, Taraji’s got you. This isn’t just a celebrity brand slapped on a bottle. It’s a whole vibe. A celebration. And a reminder that every Philly girl (and guy) deserves to be treated like royalty—preferably with a Moscato in hand, looking out over the ocean.

Catch you on the ship. And don’t forget to raise a glass to Taraji when you do.

For more on the Love Lines Premium Liquors Collection, head to www.princess.com.

About the Author
Joe Wehinger (nicknamed Joe Winger) has written for over 20 years about the business of lifestyle and entertainment. Joe is an entertainment producer, media entrepreneur, public speaker, and C-level consultant who owns businesses in entertainment, lifestyle, tourism and publishing. He is an award-winning filmmaker, published author, member of the Directors Guild of America, International Food Travel Wine Authors Association, WSET Level 2 Wine student, WSET Level 2 Cocktail student, member of the LA Wine Writers. Email to: Joe@FlavRReport.com

One comment on “Philly Fans: Better Flavor, Healthier Ingredients, – KLYR Rum Poured throughout Pennsylvania, Exclusive interview with Adam Lehrhaupt

  1. iggie harrelson says:

    Love this guy! Love this rum! Pretty sure they poured at a Philly’s game. So delicious!

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