Dear RumX-Family,
Life is a journey with many stops where you learn something new and get to know yourself better.
During one intense year at RumX, I learned more about digital and process-related topics than in eight years of my job as a corporate buyer. I’m deeply grateful to Oliver, Lukas, Jakob, the B2B partners and the entire RumX community for the wonderful encounters and experiences so far. RumX is an incredibly vibrant, fast-growing community and a highly innovative startup.
After many experiments and experiences over the past years I have come to realize though:
The tech startup life simply doesn’t suit my analog nature.
I’m not an entrepreneur in the classic sense.
I am not scaling—I am boutique.
A passionate aroma freak and artist at heart. An incorrigible romantic and uncompromising idealist when it comes to taste and craftsmanship. Someone who loves the smell of a rusty warehouse in the morning and can talk emotionally for hours about aromas and terroir with other aficionados —much less about processes, app features, sales figures, or other KPIs which are essential for a successful startup. “Know thyself” is the inscription on Apollo’s temple.
As a digital platform co-founder, one naturally has always to remain neutral toward the many business stakeholders. I’d like to switch neutrality with personality and express my personal (re)views and ratings again.
I love rum, but also all the other spirit categories as I believe in the Sprits Multiverse. And there’s this new land called wine, which I’d love to explore more intensely in the future.
Aesthetics, music, and literature are also my passions and driving forces to help shape a distinct cultural signature in the world of spirits with like-minded brands: through opulent design, cask selection and by translating sensory impressions into inspiring stories.
At Grape of the Art, this personal path was already becoming visible. With the succesful series THE SINS together with Distilia, I was able for the first time to realize my vision 100%—a pure distillate of my crazy world and mind.
Long story short:
To focus on my strengths and passions, I will step down from my Admin Role at RumX with immediate effect and will realize my own projects and ideas at www.rob-bauer.com as an independent Fine Spirits Expert & Concept Designer.
The RumX team and community, which have grown very close to my heart, I will continue to support selectively and creatively with freelance copywriting.
What’s next?
Expect new series. Absolutely personal and uncompromising in terms of quality, complexity, and design—bolder than anything you’ve seen before. Definitely want to do something with absinthe. Journaling. More content. More spirit travels and fairs.
Next week I’m btw off to Guadeloupe, hunting casks with Distilia!
Of course I will stay a very active member of the RumX Community (I believe thanks to the free time now even more active than before
).
Long live passion and sophisticated pleasure!
Cheers, Rob
Alles gute für die Zukunft. Ich mach mir keine Sorgen das wir so oder so weiter in flüssiger wie schriftlicher Form von dir zu hören bekommen! 
und gut zu hören (bzw. zu lesen) dass Du der RX community erhalten bleiben wirst als aktives ‚reguläres‘ Member! Last but not least, schon mächtig gespannt auf Deine ‚Mitbringsel‘ aus der Guadeloupe Tour 
Gibt noch so viel zu entdecken. Gerade im Agricole Bereich sagt mir mein Gefühl, dass wir alle zusammen echt noch an der Oberfläche kratzen. Allein schon, dass auf den französischen Antillen 12 (!) verschiedene Zuckerrohrsorten verwendet werden.