Friends & Family,
It’s hard to believe a year has passed since I last sat down to write Moving to Musanze. So much has happened. Let me try and catch you up.
As you know, Virunga Mountain Spirits (VMS) was launched in December 2024. Since then, our small and scrappy team has worked diligently to introduce a new premium product and experience to the Rwandan market. It’s been a slow but steady build, with some critical high points along the way. Unexpectedly, our Kari Vodka won a gold medal and was voted best varietal vodka at the 2025 World Vodka Awards.
Here’s what Veronika Karlova, chair of the judges for the World Vodka Awards, had to say:
“Today’s approach to vodka production has taken a new turn. Producers really pay attention to ingredients and focus on how to retain the character of raw material in vodka. Year on year we see an increase in World Vodka Awards entries for varietal, botanical, and flavored categories, which confirms that the future of vodka is leaning towards styles with a lot of character and flavor.”
Our craft spirit is now available in 50+ locations in Rwanda, including most of the country’s top lodges, hotels, bars and restaurants. Last November, we exported our first cases to the U.S. and celebrated with a launch event at the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C. And, in the last quarter of 2025, we welcomed more than 1,200 visitors to VMS, over half of them Rwandans, to enjoy our tours, tastings and exceptional farm to fork cuisine at Kingi Table.
Surviving our first year in business is a threshold not every new enterprise can celebrate. I won’t say that it’s been easy. What I can say is that it’s been totally worthwhile. The hospitality business is a seven day a week job and Karen is an exacting CEO and partner. We began our second year with ambitious growth and diversification plans. Distribution will soon reach the East African Community: Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.
In early May, we will introduce our second product in the Kari family, Kari Gin. Made from a base of neutral spirits and flavored with juniper berries, Kinigi potato flowers, lemon grass and gooseberry, our ten botanical vapor-infused gin represents the full expression of Rwanda’s character. Blended with gravity water from nearby volcanic streams, our gin is fresh and lively, with delicate floral and citrus tones. Additionally, we expect to introduce ginger-infused vodka to the market before the high season.
The Kari brand is not only about a product. It’s about a place. Named for Rwanda’s tallest peak, Mt. Karisimbi, Kari has a famous history, too. On September 24, 1967, Dian Fossey established the Karisoke Research Center – ‘Kari’ for short, for the first four letters of Mt. Karisimbi, which overlooked her camp from the south, and the last four letters of Mt. Bisoke from the north. The center is where Fossey did most of her groundbreaking fieldwork with mountain gorillas.
As a woman-led and inspired spirits company, we thought naming our spirits after Nyiramachabelli, the brave woman who lived alone on the mountain, was a great way to honor her legacy. That legacy will be on display in a new Netflix documentary A Gorilla Story, narrated by celebrated conservationist and documentary filmmaker David Attenborough. The documentary is filmed in the Virunga range that surrounds the distillery and will be available for streaming on April 17th.
The film pays tribute to the spirit of Virunga, just as we do with our Kari spirits. If you would like to savor the spirit of Virunga yourself, you can pick up or order a few bottles or a case of Kari Vodka from Calvert Woodley Fine Wines & Spirits in Washington, DC. Calvert ships nationally for a flat rate, and the vodka can be ordered through the link (HERE). Kari is also available through Bourbon Concierge (HERE).
I often lead tours for guests who want a behind the scenes look at how we mash, ferment and distill our craft potato vodka. To be honest, meeting and talking with visitors from around the world is the best part of my job. Many of them come directly from gorilla trekking in Volcanoes National Park and are still buzzing with excitement. For most, it’s the experience of a lifetime.
I hope all of you get a chance to see A Gorilla Story. Maybe it will inspire you to book a trip to Rwanda. We would love to see you here!
Stay in touch,
Bill