Watch our Hori Smoku Norman ‘Sailor Jerry’ Collins Documentary on YouTube

From our earliest days as just a bunch of punk rockers with a t-shirt shop right on up to today, when people all over the world enjoy our fine spiced rum, everything we have done traces back to the inspiration and the values laid down by one man: Norman 'Sailor Jerry' Collins. And Hori Smoku is his story. But it’s much more than that: It’s also the story of tattooing in America, and how an underground network of artists and fans took inspiration from the East to form a vibrant American folk art that is today as recognizable as the Statue of Liberty. 

Along the way, we’ll visit Norman’s little shop in Honolulu, where his tattoos became a right of passage for sailors passing through, and also where Norman communicated his fiercely independent spirit, his no-bull attitude towards life, and his irrepressible prankster nature. And we’ll talk to some of the greatest names of all time in tattooing, many of whom owe a debt to Norman and his work.

So here it is, folks: The whole story. Told through once-in-a-lifetime interviews, fascinating archival footage and lots and lots of thoroughly amazing flash, Hori Smoku is the real deal — a unique window into the life and times of our namesake and hero: The man they called Sailor Jerry.

CREDITS: 

Production Company: FHP Productions

Executive Producer: Steven Grasse

Writer/Director/Producer: Erich Weiss

Editor: Anderson Bradshaw

Producer: Doug Spagenberg

Assistant Producer: Jason ‘Jag’ Goldberg

Cameramen: Erich Weiss, Anderson Bradshaw, Doug Spagenberg, Chong Pak

Featuring interviews with Don Ed Hardy, Michael Malone, Zeke Owen, Lyle Tuttle, Philadelphia Eddie Funk, Bob Roberts and Joe Boyle