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from www.ocregister.com – Who was that familiar-looking middle-age guy surrounded by young men and beautiful women on Saturday at Costa Mesa’s Hi-Time Wine Cellars?

Why none other than Ron Jeremy, of course. Porn star. Rum maker.

“Take a whiff of this,” said Jeremy as he sat on a bar stool next to a life-size cutout image of himself. “It’s 94 proof. Check this out: vanilla, chocolate-y caramel.”

Jeremy screwed off the cap. He was right: the dark, exotic-looking rum had a great nose. Still, it was a little weird having Ron Jeremy order me to take a whiff of something.

Ron De Jeremy Spice Rum ($14.99, 750 ml) is one of two products made under his label. I bought a bottle, and it’s a decent rum for mixing with summer drinks that contain juices and cola.

The two rums in the Ron de Jeremy line-up are made in Panama by respected 72-year old Cuban master distiller Francisco “Don Pancho” Fernandez. The other is a serious 7-year aged rum ($29.99 at Hi-Time) that has been getting good reviews.

“The nose is deep vanilla, caramel and toasted molasses, with the slightest hint of spice,” says Drinkspirits.com.

“There’s just a little bite to the nose. The entry is surprisingly spicy with immediate wood.” (Yes, bad jokes abound in these reviews.) “These flavors play well in the rum base with the spicy doing a fantastic job of balancing out the sweet tones.”

Jeremy tells a good story about how he became interested in the rum-making trade.

“These two guys from Finland met with me and told me, ‘We’re looking for a famous Ron.’ ‘Ron’ is rum in Spanish.” (Jouko Laune and Olli Hietalahti, owners of One Eyed Spirits in Stockholm, Sweden, are partners in the enterprise. Both Laune and Hietalahti, Finland natives, were in the ad business before leaving the industry to start a rum company with Jeremy.)

“I thought, ‘There’s Ron Reagan; he’s dead. Ronald McDonald makes hamburgers. Ron Howard makes movies. Enron is a bunch of thieves. That leaves me. What other Ron is out there?’”

Jeremy is proud of his product, and he said that unlike certain celebrities who lend their name to a line of booze, he wanted to associate his well-known moniker with a quality spirit.

“We thought rather than play gimmicks and games, let’s make it good. If my name is on it and it’s not good, then nobody’s going to come back to buy it again.

“For example, take Dan Aykroyd’s Skull.” (It name is actually Crystal Head Vodka.) “Everyone buys it once because it’s a novelty item. But a lot of people say his vodka is crap. I didn’t want to be associated with something like that.”

New York-born Jeremy, 59, a veteran of the industry’s 1980s heyday, may be rated the world’s number 1 porn star, but he’s no himbo. (His Website bio mentions he has a master’s degree and was a special education teacher before his other talents were discovered.) He keeps up with all the media coverage about his rum.

“Look at the Huffington Post, the (New York) Daily News, the New York Times, the Village Voice, the Washington Post. Amazing reviews. Amazing.”

Jeremy’s rum, which has just passed the 30,000-bottle mark in production, is already doing well in Europe, where it has been marketed for nine months and won a couple of awards. “We’re also huge in Australia,” Jeremy said.

Jeremy is just beginning to break into the American market. “We’re already doing really well in Florida, where we have a great distributor with Southern Wine & Spirits, and also in Tennessee for some reason. We’re just starting to test the waters in Southern California.”

During the short interview, Jeremy showed a marketer’s knack for slogans and memorable lines, though most can’t be repeated here. One of them had to do with a comparison of Jeremy’s product to Captain Morgan Rum that started with a mention of the typical pirate’s single leg. Let’s leave it there.

Jeremy also harbors many entrepreneurs’ dream of being absorbed by one of the big boys.

“I’m hoping for a real good buyout. Let’s say Bacardi hates my guts. I’ll be ecstatic. Of course I won’t make the kind of money Sammy Hagar makes.” (The rock legend has found success with his Sammy’s Beach Bar Rum.)

In the meantime, Jeremy is pursuing his passion with the same single-minded determination that he pursued, uh, his other passion.

“I want this to be huge. But it’s a slow process. Different states need different distributors and marketing approaches. Each place is different.”

Jeremy’s hard work was apparently taking its toll on Saturday. After talking to one of his associates for a couple of minutes, I turned my attention back to Jeremy. He had nodded off on his bar stool in the middle of a large crowd.

I’ve heard that effective cat-naps are a secret to business success, too.