One of the quirks of American rum is that most of the 250+ distilleries producing it split their time making other kinds of booze.

Entry into the spirits business is a tough, capital-intensive game, so young distilleries often find themselves making whatever is necessary to keep as many customers coming through their doors as possible. And most distillers are tinkerers by nature anyway—taking a crack at a spirit they’ve never made often looks just as much like a learning opportunity as a business one.

So it’s not uncommon for a distillery that starts with rum to develop wandering eyes for liquor that’s more familiar to American palates, like whiskey.

It is, however, uncommon to see a distillery discontinue its whiskey in order to focus exclusively on rum—especially when that whiskey has garnered ink from outlets like Esquire and the New York Times. So when Jaime Windon, co-founder and distiller at Lyon Distilling in Saint Michaels, Maryland, told me she was doing exactly that, I had to know more.

If American rum is to continue growing in both output and quality, it’s going to need as many passionate people as possible. And what could indicate more passion for making it than retiring a whiskey plenty of customers specifically seek out just so you can focus completely on rum?

I caught up with Windon to find out more. 90 minutes later, we’d covered everything from the dangers facing the American rum category, to added sugar controversies, to the reasons why she still chooses not to age Lyon rum after six years in business.

Our conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

Esquire named your rye whiskey the best whiskey in the state of Maryland. The New York Times mentioned it in an article about the return of Maryland rye. And yet you’ve decided to stop making it so you can focus 100% on rum. Why?

The first thing you should know is that we started a distillery to make rum. That was the goal, but also with the intention to nod to historically significant and culturally appropriate spirits. So within a few months we were also dabbling with rye because rye whiskey is a historically significant spirit in Maryland that had not been distilled here for 42 years.

However, I noticed immediately that people would assume our story was the same as almost every other new, small distillery—that we were laying down these aged spirits and, in the meantime, we just have these “easy, quick” clear spirits for you to drink.

So I started to have to really educate people—letting them know that yes, the whiskey is in barrels, and will be released over time, but for now we have fantastic rums. I’d ask them what they liked to drink, the flavors they were looking for, because I’ve got a rum that drinks like a scotch. I’ve got a rum that you can sip like a bourbon. I’ve got this robust overproof French oak finished rum that drinks like a rye. Our motto quickly became, “All you need is rum.”

And that’s when I realized...there is something that doesn’t sync up for me when someone walks in my distillery, tells me how much they like a whiskey, I find them a rum they love, but then tell them to come back in a few months to try our whiskey. Of course I like whiskey. I enjoy all spirits. But I love rum. How can I believe that all you need is rum and spend my time making anything else?

How have customers reacted when they find out you’re not making whiskey anymore?

People are shocked when they hear that this is our last batch. One woman said, “Even after the New York Times article? Even after that?” And I said, “Exactly after that.” We feel like we contributed to the Maryland rye conversation. We released six incredibly small, wonderful batches of rye whiskey, and now we are closing that chapter. There are a lot of other Maryland distillers now. Most are working on rye, and I’m super excited to drink theirs. But, for me, I want to make rum. That’s it.