After nine year's of preparation, Greg Schredder, president and CEO of Koloa Rum Corp., says he couldn't be happier to be "up and rumming" with Kaua`i's first and only commercial distillery.

When he started with the idea to create a value-added product from Kaua`i sugar cane, the 64-year-old Po`ipu resident never expected the myriad of permits, permissions and hurdles would take this long.

Schredder also didn't expect to invest $5 million in the venture, which means "my house is hocked, my car's hocked, everything's hocked."

Along his road to rum-making Schredder acquired the venerable Hawaiian Kukui facility in Kalaheo, repaired its Iniki-damaged building, revived its sputtering jam and jelly production, and finally had a place to house his distillery.

Then, the very week in September Koloa Rum announced its retail store and tasting room at Kilohana Plantation was open, sugar grower Gay & Robinson announced it was harvesting its last crop.

But Schredder was ready for that. He'd already committed to buy a stockpile of Gay & Robinson cane that will keep Koloa Rum in production several years, he said.

The long-term solution to keep the rum flowing will be finding another source of Kaua`i-grown sugar. Schredder says options include buying sugar from Pacific West, an energy company that hopes to build a sugar ethanol plant on Kaua`i and grow cane to supply it.

If that doesn't happen, Koloa Rum might contract with a new company to grow sugarcane, or even get into the growing business itself.

Schredder says the company is named after the Kaua`i town that had the Hawaiian Islands' first sugar plantation in 1835 and takes the connection with history – and with providing a good job for Kaua`i residents – seriously.

Schredder says he's "earned and lost several fortunes" over his business career starting and running factories to produce sporting goods and other products in Mexico and South America. When he moved to Kaua`i 28 years ago, it was his second time living here.

The first time in the 1960s, Schredder lived in his car and surfed all he could, he says. Now, even with business obligations, he still gets in three or more surf sessions a week.

The process of rum-making is straight-forward as explained by Bob Gunter, Koloa Rum's general manager. Sugar and/or molasses are mixed with pure water and a proprietary yeast blend, fermented in large plastic containers for a short time, then distilled in a 1947 copper pot still that transforms 1,200 gallons of fermented product into 120 gallons of high-proof rum.

Flavor and color are added to the white liquor and the alcohol content standardized to 80 proof by blending with water, Gunter says on a tour of the facility.

Steam power for distilling and to cook the Hawaiian Kukui jams and jellies is provided by a boiler from the former Ka`u sugar mill on the Big Island.

Koloa Rum is for sale by the bottle in its company store on the Kilohana Plantation grounds and at The Wine Shop in Koloa. Sales by the drink are available at a growing list of Kaua`i bars, some of which have invented new drinks to highlight the locally made liquor, Schredder says.

Kaua`i bars and restaurants serving the new libation include Duke's, Beach House, Gaylord's, Sheraton Kaua`i Resort, Brennecke's Beach Broiler, Po`ipu Beach Broiler, Scotty's Barbecue, Joe's on the Green, Marriott's Waiohai Beach Club, the new Merriman's restaurant and Koa Kea Hotel.

"It's not the cheapest rum, but it's a local rum and they are proud of it," Schredder said.

Current varieties are Light, Amber, Dark and Spiced, at $28 and $29 per 750 ml bottle.

Schredder and Gunter will talk to anyone who'll listen about the quality of the rum concocted from Kaua`i sugarcane and water and how it beats the Caribbean-made stuff hands down.

"We're different, we're unique, we're Hawaiian," Schredder says. He likes to tell about one woman's enthusiastic reaction to Koloa Rum the first week it was sold.

The woman, a visitor from the Mainland, had a drink with the rum at the Beach House restaurant and was so enthused about it, she went to the retail store at Kilohana Plantation the next day to buy several bottles and have it shipped to her home in Wisconsin.

"She identified herself as a rum drinker and she got down on her knees and said, 'That is the best I've ever had,' " Schredder said.

Current equipment can produce 60,000 cases of rum a year and could be expanded to make more, Gunter said. Fifteen employees work at the Kalaheo plant, producing both rum and the non-alcoholic Hawaiian Kukui products, which now include – surprise – a mai tai mix. "Can't you just see that in a Christmas basket with the Koloa Rum?" Schredder asks.

Schredder said he plans to "keep it boutique" and hopes to develop a name for Koloa Rum with on-island sales. His business plan projects that, if successful, the company could attract a major liquor distributor as a buyer in the future.

Additional rum flavors are under consideration, as is the possibility of okole hau, a liquor made from fermented roots of the ti plant. A premium, aged rum will be available in two or more years.

The company store also sells rum cakes, bartending equipment, and company logo shirts and hats. Store and tasting room hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays; the store number is 246-8900.

Reach Diana Leone at dleone@honoluluadvertiser.com.