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Three years after establishing Red Horse Distillery in south Fort Myers, Joe Semansky launched a new product line of alcoholic beverages.

Jungle Joe’s Bamboo line of spirits recently received approval from the Food and Drug Administration to be sold, and the distillery at 11000 Metro Parkway, Unit No. 23, began selling them this month.

Semansky uses bamboo shoots in the fermentation process, converting the starch to sugar for a distinctive flavor.

“It makes a really good mint julep,” Semansky said. “It also makes a very good mojito. Just with that unique, grassy flavor. It’s a little bit of a sweetness, grassy kind of earthy flavor.”

Jungle Joe’s Bamboo has what he calls a Bum-boo rum, which is rum with bamboo flavor added. There’s also a Bamboo Shine (moonshine), Bamboo Vodka and Bamboo Spirit. Bottles cost $29 and are available for purchase in the tasting room at the distillery.

“The toughest part about this was getting through FDA approval,” Semansky said. “They were very, very tough on me. It took months to get the approval. And then finally we got it through. I’m pretty excited about it.

“We did some research. No one is else is doing this. No one had done it. I’m the first legal distillery in the United States to do it. So, here we are.”

Semansky, who turns 73 next week, operated a winery and a distillery in Barberton, Ohio. He relocated to Florida in 2021, and he failed in his attempt to retire. That led him to opening Red Horse Distillery in south Fort Myers in 2022. He leases about 2,200 square feet of space in an industrial strip center, with the front serving as a tasting room and sales center and the back as the actual distillery. He can make about 40 gallons combined of spirits during a 10-day stretch.

Red Horse Distillery has just three employees — Semansky, his wife, Kelly Cummins, and his stepdaughter, Katie Cummins.

Semansky decided to launch the spinoff brand of Jungle Joe’s Bamboo to differentiate it from the Red Horse line of products, which can be found at area Total Wine stores in addition to the tasting room.

“Maybe there will be some restaurants in the local Fort Myers area that might want to have our product to make a unique drink,” Semansky said.

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