I get many emails from you rum folks about what rum do i recommend to take home from your vacation in the Dominican Republic. I decided to write down a list of my rare favorites just to make your decisions easier. I understand that most of the time you cant take home more than 3-4 bottles due to the customs, but you never know if you find all of those on the list so its better to have more to choose from than having extra space left.

Brugal Siglo de Oro One of the clasics in Dominican Republic. Created to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Brugal the formulation is a family tradition. Review: rumgallery.com Average Price: RD$ 3100,-
Brugal XV The newest Brugal product launched on the 20th of December 2012. “The end is just the beginning” was the slogan. Double aged. Finished in Sherry casks. Smooth really great blend. Review: XV.com.do Average Price: RD$ 500,-
Barcelo Imperial Premium Blend 30 Aniversario One special blend created for the 30th anniversary of the formulation of the Barcelo Imperial. Finished in Château D`Yquem casks. Exceptional taste. Review: rumgallery.com  Average price: RD$ 4500,-
Macorix 8 Años A hidden gem in the Dominican rum world with an interesting history. I had several locals pointing to this one as a must try. One of my favorite rums on the market. Review: n/a (caramel notes, anise in the end – very interesting) Average price: RD$ 350,-
Columbus Añejo 7 Años The tradition of the Barcelo family continues in a different packaging. They cant use the name Barcelo anymore, but did you see the bottom of the bottle yet? Review: rumgallery.com Average price: 15 USD
Bermudez Anniversario 1852 The legend in the Dominican Republic. A rum with tradition, character and wonderful toffee notes. Review: rumgallery.com Average price: RD$ 580,- (~15 USD)
Cubaney Centenario When i asked Omar Lopez, the master blender, why he created this rum, he said: “Because i wanted to create a rum i think a rum should taste like”. Review: top of the line from O&O (Aged Rum 15yo to 30yo winner at the Berlin RumFest 2012) Average price: RD$ 3800,- (~95 USD)

There are just too many great rums over here in the DR and its hard to choose only a few. I suggest drinking those you cant take home with you. Be sure to wrap them into t-shirts of whatever cloth just to make sure you dont cry when you open it at your arrival.

What are your favorite Dominican rums?

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Last year, more than 8,000 rum enthusiasts attended the festival with 20,000 square feet of exhibit space. The new space spans 40,000 square feet, twice the size of last year’s event. Festival organizers are preparing for 15,000 attendees.

In addition to a week-long series of VIP parties, tasting sessions and celebrity seminars, the rum festival brings together members of the esteemed International Rum Expert Panel (RumXPs) for their annual tasting competition.

Two full days of Grand Tasting events for the public will take place on Saturday and Sunday, April 20 and 21. More than 240 spirits from the Caribbean and beyond will be available for sampling, along with a selection of island-style cuisine.

New this year is a half-day exhibit session exclusively for the beverage trade on Friday, April 19. Liquor store buyers, food and beverage managers, bartenders and other spirits trade professionals will be invited to attend.

The Miami Rum Renaissance Festival attracts cane spirit products and brands from all over the globe. Companies large and small will be on hand to present their rums to a global gathering of experts, reporters, critics and consumers.

South Florida is regarded as the number one rum market in the world, with a high percentage of rum enthusiasts, liquor stores, bars and restaurants offering both popular and top-shelf luxury rum products to consumers.

According to event manager Robin Burr, the Miami Rum Fest has doubled in size each year, a testament to the fact that consumer interest in sugar cane spirits is growing faster than any other category of liquor.

“We’re proud to say that our prediction of rum’s resurgence in popularity was on the money,” said Robert A. Burr, festival organizer and publisher of Rob’s Rum Guide. “An incredible range of fine rums, from casual and fun mixers to luxurious top-shelf sipping rums will be on display. There is no better opportunity for the rum enthusiast to sample such a vast selection of spirits in one place.”
Rum lovers can choose between $50 day passes to the grand tasting events and $65 VIP tickets that allow early access to the exhibits and complimentary tickets to the celebrity seminars. VIP ticket holders also enjoy access to a private area featuring complimentary cuisine and VIP cocktails.

For those that wish to participate in the entire week of VIP special opportunities, a $250 Executive VIP pass grants admission to all events.

For more information on the Miami Rum Renaissance Festival, activities planned during Miami Rum Week and exhibits at Miami Rum Fest, call 305-443-7973 or visit the web site at RumRenaissance.com

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The following history is from a document i received from Oliver & Oliver which was published on my previous rum blogs back in 2010. Since its history there is no need to change things. I can only add that they are successfully collecting international rum awards till this day.

Origin and philosophy of the company

Juanillo Oliver, a Catalan and Mallorcan arrived in Cuba in mid-nineteenth century as a Spanish soldier and began the family lineage on the Caribbean island.

After finishing his military service, instead of returning to the mainland, he decided to settle in the center of the island, in an area that later became known as Oliver, near the town of Las Placetas.

It was here that he chose to raise his family and to begin the cultivation of tobacco and sugar cane. Shortly thereafter, the family started companies to take advantage of their crops.

They built mills to grind sugar cane for the production of sugars and alcohols, starting very early in the artisanal production of rum and brandies.

Both their rum and cigars were known in central Cuba and gave fortune and fame to the family. With the arrival of the second War of Independence, separatists destroyed and burned the producing farms and ranches from the East to the Villaclara region, and so, in 1898, the Cubaney mills were destroyed.

After Independence had been achieved, the family abandoned the sugar cane production and continued in the cultivation and production of tobacco and other businesses and agricultural activities until the year 1959; the arrival of the Revolution.

In the years following 1959, many of the family members left Cuba and their descendants spread throughout the world.

In the late eighties, a member of the younger generation returned to Cuba and his curiosity led him to plunge into the family history which he studied rigorously.

Among the hundreds of files and documents he reviewed, he found the original formulas used by the family in the nineteenth century in their production of rum.

Encouraged by the discovery, the descendants of Juanillo Oliver committed themselves to revive the Cuban rum. The Dominican Republic, sharing the characteristics of climate, topography, and geology with Cuba, was chosen as the ideal country to resume the manufacturing of the family rum.

In the early nineties, the Oliver family began to develop their rums in San Francisco de Macoris in the Dominican Republic.

Cuban immigrant engineers and master blenders were hired for advice to help prepare the plant for the production of rum in the pure Cuban style. Since then, the same procedures, parameters and formulas set by these technicians remained and are still used by the present exiled master blenders and technicians, all with extensive experience in their professions.

The plant began by purchasing 100,000 liters of distillates and malts that had been aged for 15 years, forming the first stock production in the Casa Oliver which represented the basis of their mother rum and origin of the rums currently being bottled.

The corporate reorganization under the corporate name of Oliver & Oliver took place in 1997, transferring the ownership of the plant and all its assets for subsequent operations.

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The journey started early in the morning from Santo Domingo. We met at the airport to catch the Brugal plane to Puerto Plata. One hour in the air and we were there – at the birthplace of Brugal rum. It was a great trip filled with history, details and rum.

First stop of our visit was the visitor center. In front of it you see a wooden wagon used to transfer cut sugarcane juice to the factory. Interesting is that it is still used in some parts because of the difficulty of the terrain.

Right next to it a trapiche (molino, prensa or also called sugarcane press) we get the explanation that it was the first mechanism to extract sugarcane juice in big quantities. It was used before 500 years and moved by animals like horses, donkeys, oxes. See my article on types of sugarcane mills.

Brugal does not own any sugarcane fields, but buys it from the local producers. They call it 100% Dominican due to the fact that everything they use for the production of this unique rum is made in DR.

As we were told they had a distillery in Puerto Plata but the sugarcane fields were moved to South-East part of the country..so was the distillery. This was an economicly more logical choice for them then moving the melassa to Puerto Plata. Its more complicated to transport melassa than alcohol. Both sugarcane fields that are in the area of Puerto Plata are closed for more than 15 years.

All the alcohol is produced in San Pedro de Macoris on the south part of DR. Their distillery produces 75000 litres of alcohol daily 7 days a week. It is closed only 2-3 days in a year due to maintenance. It is considered one of the cleanest alcohols.

They have 6 storage tanks in the distillery each with a capacity of 1 million gallons for  the storage of melassa. They save up the molasses from the time of the “zafra” (duration of 4-5 months) for the period when there is no sugarcane.

Three trucks from the distillery filled with 95% alcohol arrive daily to Puerto Plata. When diluting it to 65% (barrel strength) they use water from the mountains of Puerto Plata. The water goes through different filters prior to using with rum (carbon filtered, Despenarlizador (extracts the minerals from the water) so it doesn’t influence the final taste of the aged rum. They can store 1.7 million gallons of water. The PH is of the water is lowered to the one of the rum so no other reaction is triggered because of the water.

It’s the barrel who has the main role in this production. Barrels are from Amarican Oak which were first used to age Bourbon. Depending on the “aging type” the barrels are used approximately 18 to 20 years. Explaining the “aging types”, as they state, they have 2 different types: one used for “old aged alcohol” from 3 to 8 years of aging. The barrels are in horizontal position so both ends of the barrel stay wet and don’t deform. More oxygen gets inside for the oxidation process. The other type is “young aged alcohol” in a range from 1 to 3 years which stay in vertical position. Because of the short aging period even though in vertical position the barrel does not lose form. Every barrel has a medium toast which gives the characteristic notes to the Brugal rum.

Brugal has 14 warehouses. 7 in the blending facility of Brugal and 7 located in the areas of the old distillery outside of Puerto Plata. Approximately 250.000 barrels. Every storage area has a capacity of 18.000 barrels. Because of evaporation rate (8 – 12%) the maximum aged rum in Brugal is 8 years. Rums like Brugal Siglo de Oro or Brugal 1888 are double aged which are 12 to 14 years.

Every rum is a blend of rums of different ages. Every bottle of Brugal has a rum that has been aged minimum 1 year as the Dominican rum law states.

Interesting facts:

• Production of 5 million boxes of Brugal yearly
• 8-12% evaporation rate a year
• 30% of the production goes for export and 70% stays in the country
• Brugal has 90% of the market share in the Dominican Republic

What is your Brugal experience?

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Part of my Europe rum trip was also a visit to Czech Republic’s capital – Prague. I was invited by my fellow rum friend Pedro Ortiz to make a presentation on Dominican Rums. Without any time wasted thinking about it I agreed right away. I always say that Dominican rum is one of the best rums in the world and it would be a sin not to try it. We were lucky enough to get the help from the Dominican consulate in Prague, which provided original Dominican food during the whole tasting. It was a great rum themed day i want to thank everybody for coming and tasting the true spirit of the Caribbean.

Here my translation of the article written for the portal nova.cz

Dominican Republic is a popular holiday destination. Its beaches are known from movies and travel agency catalogs. But what about their next export item – rum? Do you know them? Meet the seven best rums from the Dominican Republic.

Lets look at Dominican Republic from a different view. How about over local taste buds? They love their rums. A day without rum is for Dominicans something like a day without a beer for a Czech. And if you want to really get to know the country, isn’t it better with a local? In addition, as the saying goes: Love goes through the stomach, but friendship goes through the liver. Cheers!

Be sure that you cheer with quality. “In the Dominican Republic to be able to call your spirit a rum it must mature at least one year in oak barrels. It is usually made from molasses,” says Pavol Kazimir, a member of The International Rum Expert Panel. “Dominican rums do not use numbering. And so on these Caribbean rums you don’t find the exact number of years of aging. Instead they use adjectives like “Añejo” – the rum from three to five years – and “Gran Añejo” – rum from four to six years, “he recalls. Let’s introduce the seven best.

LOS 3 B

The alias of three B’s ​​knows really everybody in the Dominican Republic like in our country the hockey player with the number 68. Bermudez, Brugal and Barcelo – three rums that deserve one or more tastings. Bermudez Aniversario is one of the best rums in the Dominican Republic. There you can feel the amazing taste of chocolate.

A bottle of this rum is available everywhere in the country, from the smallest shop for the most exclusive bar. Brugal has 90 percent of the Dominican market and sponsors a number of projects with “Brugal believes in its People” or helps with the infrastructure. Therefor nobody is surprised to see many local streets with a logo from this particular rum. The last of the trio is Barceló (Dubar) made from the finest molasses and aged in bourbon barrels. These include fine dark rum with a distinctive bouquet. All three rums are available with us.

A piece of Christmas

Good alcohol will not leave you in peace. For example if you drink rum Cubaney, you feel as if you were eating Christmas cookies. With every sip you taste cinnamon and vanilla and with every gulp you await the coming of Jesus. Another is the Hispaniola Gran Añejo rum which is indeed from the Dominican Republic, but you wont find it in local stores. Its owners see the market situation very sober and know that you can not compete with brands like Barcelo or Bermudez. Therefore you find him only in some local hotels. It is a hidden gem from the new rum scene in which they are mixing quality and tradition. Unfortunately the flavored rum Cayrum is not sold on the old continent yet, which is a shame because it is truly unique as seen by the long history of its creation. Two Americans poured rum, ginger and honey in a barrel.

They let this mixture stand for two weeks, then kicked into the barrel a few times and the result was excellent! Creators and their friends tasted this drink and loved it! Testing of the final version took a year during which they experimented with different kinds of ginger and how to slice them, various honeys and rums. Finally, the testing determined that the best for this drink is a three year old rum. It might score some nice points on our market as a Christmas gift and replace the too sweet and sticky eggnog.

Sex and rum? Why not!

Brugal and Mamajuana is in the Dominican Republic considered an aphrodisiac. Evidenced by the well-known local saying: “If you drink Brugal you score, or you get into a fight.” The second appointed even has an aphrodisiac effect confirmed by scientists. The base of the Hispaniola Mamajuana is mamajuana, also called dominican viagra, a mix of spices, wood and plants, but made ready to drink. You can find a recipe for mamajuana all over the internet. But if you came across the right one, nobody can guarantee you. Aphrodisiac effects, however, are easily verifiable.

Cheers!

Photos by: atbars.com

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And the month of Rum Festivals officially started! October being the craziest month of them all being full with Rum Fest Berlin, Bar Convent Berlin, London Cocktail Week and the UK Rum Fest. Lots to see and lots to drink. I went to Berlin and this is what i remember.

An event organized by master Dirk Becker the owner of the Rum Depot in Berlin. I met Dirk the first time as a RumXP in Miami we had some rums and talks. Dirk is a real rum lover, his Rum Depot “Rum Club” is a shop full with over 600 rums..impressive i know! As i see it the Rum Festival was only a normal result of his passion for this liquid gold. Even when raining the atmosphere inside was incredible people enjoying all the different rums it was a wonderful rum flavored weekend.

Event Homepage: http://rumfest-berlin.com/

Here you can see the official photos from the RumFest Berlin on their Facebook page. I have put together this video. (Edited with iMovies for iPhone)

It was really a great event i can’t wait to get back next year. Thanks to Dirk and his staff for everything.

As you can see on the video Brugal made a wonderful work on their stand. The bar was shaped as a boat (catamaran) to show the real pleasures of living in the caribbean…really nice. Their pink mojito was a raspberry mojito variant which resulted in a really nice drink..the rum really makes it special.

I was pleasantly surprised when i saw the old Brugal Siglo de Oro bottle..they probably still have some in their warehouses. Of course i took one for me .. its already a collectors bottle!

The results are really interesting..i have to admit i was surprised when i saw them.

White Rum:
Gold: Plantation 3 Stars
Silver: Mount Gay Eclipse Silver
Bronze: Caney Ron Blanco

Gold / Dark Rum:
Gold: Pampero Añejo Especial
Silver: Blue Mauritius Rum
Bronze: Botucal Añejo

Aged Rum 5-9 Years:
Gold: Virgin Gorda
Silver: Pampero Aniversario
Bronze: Chairman’s Reserve Forgotten Cask

Cachaça:
Gold: Delicana Ipé Roxo
Silver: Delicana Silver
Bronze: Delicana Castanha

Flavoured Rum:
Gold: Rum Company Cocorange Old Rum
Silver: Belmont Estate Coconut Rum
Bronze: Saint Aubin Reserve Spiced Rum

Aged Rum 10-14 Years:
Gold: Ron Santiago de Cuba Extra Añjeo 12 Años
Silver: Centenario Gran Legado 12 Años
Bronze: English Harbour Reserve 10 Years

Aged Rum 15-30 Years:
Gold: Cubaney Centenario
Silver: XM Supreme 15 years
Bronze: Gosling’s Family Reserve Old Rum

Solera Rum:
Gold: Centenario Systema Solera 25 años
Silver: Centenario Systema Solera 30 años
Bronze: Ron Cartavio XO

Rhum Agricole Up To 10 Years:
Gold: La Mauny Rhum Vieux Agricole 1995
Silver: Trois Riviéres Cuvée de Moulin
Bronze: Rhum Barbancourt Aged 8 Years

Rhum Agricole Over 10 Years:
Gold: Trois Riviéres 1999 Fût Unique Single Cask
Silver: Secret Treasures Single Cask Old Guadeloupe 1992
Bronze: La Mauny XO

Overproof Rum:
Gold: Smith & Cross
Silver: Tiki Lover Dark
Bronze: Gosling’s Black Seal 151 proof

Best of Show 2012: Ron Santiago de Cuba extra añjeo 12 años

Congratulations to all the rums and of course especially our Cubaney Centenario from Casa Oliver. I used to drink this rum after a hard day. When i asked the master blender Omar Lopez why did he create this rum he said: “I think this is how rum should taste”.

Have you ever tasted these rums?

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Originally used by the native Tainos as a herbal tea and later modified to perfection by adding rum, Mamajuana is believed to be a cure all and a treasure of Dominican Republic. I found this article in my rum folder introducing the pre-made Mamajuana Kalembu. It is a fine tasting blend worth a while.

Two gentlemen, Jack & Jacques, started the production of Mamajuana about 8 years ago under the name Kalembu. Selling mostly in touristic places later made it to export. You can get Kalembu nowadays in the United States, Germany and St. Maarten. They said that expanding the business to United States was the best step they could make.

Kalembu is made following the same steps as in the way people traditionally prepare their mamajuana at home, using also the same ingredients. This is why the taste of Kalembu has the characteristics of a carefully homemade delicacy that complies with industrial quality standards.

The result of the blending with the roots extract is a 60 proof alcohol, beautiful smell and a little kick at the end.

Tasting

Looks nice reddish, you can see the industrial filtering process is done properly. The smell is wonderful. It is honey sweet just perfect aroma therapy. Smells really like homemade mamajuana from fresh roots. Taking it from my personal view as a rum drinker I am used to spirits that have this nice kick when drinking. Kalembu is a liquor with a nice and gentle feeling in the mouth. Only thing that stays in the mouth is the amazing mixture of the roots. Little bit bitter, you can feel roots. It is the typical mamajuana that you can get on the street premixed and ready to drink. I have to say they did a good job!

Aphrodisiac Effects

Besides being a cure-all Mamajuana is believed to have aphrodisiac effects claimed by male and female drinkers. Reading on the Kalembu website they refer to it as Vitamin P. Mamajuana is magical that is for sure.

Official website: www.kalembu.com

What is your experience with this spirit? Have you ever tasted it?

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I heard about Cayrum and the Kane family a while ago thanks to the RumXP group. When I read that a new brand of rum is being produced in Cabarete I had to find out what is behind all that. Mr. Todd Kane spent 30 years in the restaurant industry and now started his own rum brand. It took some time but at the end we got to meet for the following interview.

Can you tell me the story behind Cayrum? How and why did it all start?

I have a house in cabarette for about 7 years where I was playing with different infusions with some friends of mine. We would only do them for the house so when we came down with friends we always had something to offer. People were always saying: “you should sell this in the states” and after hearing it so many times we were (with my son Zach) back in Atlanta talking about it and decided: “ok let move ahead with the idea”.

So we bought 12 different rums like white rum, aged rum, 3 yo, 7yo, very inexpensive, medium priced and premium rum, basically rum from all over (we always made it with Dominican rum since we were here). We got all the ginger and honey and we started testing. Right away white rum was out. Cheap rum didn’t work either. We also found out that the medium priced and expensive ones were giving the same flavor results.

We probably spent around 6 to 9 months playing with that. Once we had the rum we started playing with the amount of ginger and honey to be used in the infusion. We experimented how to cut to ginger (how much surface to expose), so we had again 15 different samples. Afterwards we tried to leave it infuse for 1 week, then 3 weeks, then months until we finally got the right time for it.

It was almost time for Zach’s engagement party when we decided to make a batch of infused rum. There were people in their 50-ties and also 20-ties. Everybody was like: “wow what is this, this is great” and people kept telling us what we should do and so on. We were at the point to decide what will be our next step. We bought a stainless 55 gallon barrel, went to the supermarket and bought 15 cases of 1.5 liter rum, went to the grocery store bought the ginger and honey. At the beginning we bought some cheap bottles online and a friend bartender helped us to make the first label. It was called “Chillixer“ at the beginning . (The house in Cabarette was called Villa Chillax so we called it chillixer). That’s where the US Government stopped us.

We always wanted it to stay the Dominican drink since it was natural. But you had to get through the way it looked (ginger and honey made it clowdy). When we were looking for partners at the beginning everybody wanted to use ginger and honey extracts. This would change the final taste and it just isn’t natural and it took us a while to find somebody who would help us do it the natural way. This is when we met up with señor Jose Antonio Barceló. They couldn’t be more helpful when they said: “look this basically is your distillery, tell us what to do and we are going to do it”. They loved our product.

Victor, the master blender, kept telling us when we filter it the taste is going to be the same. I was really skeptic about this, and when we tasted the filtered product I said: “It doesn’t taste the same, it tastes better!” We cleaned the product and kept the qualities. It’s filtered two times. This way we saved us a lot of time and money explaining why is it so cloudy.

What rum are you using to make Cayrum?

We use a 3 year old rum made by the Barcelo Family.

Did you experiment also with honey? There are many types of honey on the market.

We went directly to top quality since the Barcelo family had some connection on a bee farm in the Dominican Republic. It’s really a natural, top shelf honey and since they can deliver it to us regularly we decided to stick to that one.

You mentioned that in Cabarete the rum is known as Chillixer. How come it is called Cayrum now?

We were in the final phase of our rum bottle the other day in the US. We just had to register our label like everybody else, normally not a big deal. Our label said Chillixer and on the back it said something about being an elixir. An elixir was used back in the Wild West in the 18^th century it was mostly like serving opium. So we were told we have to erase the “elixir” from the back and change our name also. So we spent about 3-5 weeks finding that. So we came up with Cayrum. Which is easier to pronounce and it sounds better (thanks to the US government). There is actually an island called Rum Cay somewhere near Bahamas. So this is how the Cay came from and also K, like Kane family.

According to the rum law, when you mix anything with a pure rum alcohol it no longer becomes rum. What impact did that have on your product?

The Kane family was never intended to be on the label, but the Government made us do that. We needed a brand. Since we mixed rum with ginger and honey it is not called rum anymore but as they say it is a “fanciful brand” so that needs a separate name.

Is everything used for exportation or you are going to sell Cayrum also in the Dominican Republic?

We started our first production at the end of 2009 and my intension was not to leave anything in the Dominican Republic and to export everything to the US. But as we met Barcelo they told us they want to be the distributor for Cayrum in the Dominican Republic. We still have to get the label approved over here. There are certain things that have to be done when you want to export it and other things for the local market.

There are a couple interesting things about this project. This project wouldn’t be possible without the internet. The bottles are from Mexico, labels come from a small town in Michigan, the tops are made in Portugal, but come from a supplier in California. The only thing that comes from Dominican Republic, besides the rum, is the plastic that seals the top of the bottle.

What is the best way to drink Cayrum?

We find that the best way to serve is chilled in a chilled shot. It is a great digestive. If you are more a cocktail type we definitely suggest the Spiky – Kiki cocktail.

(The next day Mr. Kane came to the bar to have a drink. So I asked one last thing.)

How does it feel to be the proprietary of a rum brand?

It is a wonderful feeling. I remember sitting in a bar in Cabarette and I heard a person ask for Cayrum. That was great, but you know what was better? When he asked for it the second time!

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Every page on the history of the Barceló family shows their rum journey through Dominican Republic. I was lucky enough to get in touch with Jose Antonio Barceló the president of DuBar & Co, CxA who produces the rum Columbus, a descendant of the Barceló legacy. As he said: “Here is where the brand Barceló started, we made the formulations and started the export business.”

The company starts in 1929 by a young entrepreneur named Julian Barceló a Spaniard from Mallorca. For years they were making rum and created the legendary brand Barceló Rum. However, during a complicated period in the year 2005 they decided to sell the brand to a Spanish group which is now called BEICA.

Jose Antonio Barceló studied business administration which is helping him in the current position. He worked at the facility since his childhood, passed through every department and ended up in the production part – his true passion.His morning ritual consists of smell tests reminding him the variety of flavors. Seeing the brand around Dominican Republic makes him proud of what they achieved, but at the same time the nostalgic feeling comes up.

I was shown an old bottle of Barceló Añejo that was found in a colmado. For the president it is more than just a bottle. He keeps it on his desk to remind him about the family history and as he says “not to get lost”.

The Old Barceló Imperial had 30 years on the market. Their publicity was interesting since they invested in it only once a year. Every October 15^th a page with the photo of the bottle appeared with a few words and nothing else.

Every time I am talking about the history of Barceló we end up talking about the legendary Barceló 21 Aniversario. It was the rum who opened the super premium category in Dominican Republic and according to Jose Antonio Barceló was a barrier for other brands to enter the market. However, after the year 2005 was this product discontinued and only a few cases exist nowadays spread through the Dominican Republic. Considered a gem in the world of rums so rare it makes you want to go rum hunting.

“Imperial 21 was my preparation, my formulation. It was my graduation.”

– Jose Antonio Barceló

In the present DuBar & Co produces the Columbus rums on which I am going to focus in the next post later this week. They work also with private labels like Cayrum and a luxury rum which will be coming on the market in near future.

They have the capacity to produce 4 million cases of rum a year.

See photos on flickr.

The Distillery

I was told Dominican Republic has three distilleries: One owned by BEICA, second owned by Brugal and third one is owned by 2 main shareholders, the Barceló family and their partner Omar Bros (producing rum Grog for the Haitian market – coming up soon)

It was a fantastic rum flavored morning in the headquarters of DuBar & Co. The antique offices whisper the history in a pleasant tone which makes the whole day an experience. Let me know what you think. Do you remember the pre 2005 Barceló products?

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The first Sugarcane mill was established in 1516 on la Hispaniola a little bit after Columbus brought the first sugarcane in 1493.  In the 17th century this wooden tool became an important part of the sugar production. You can find some antique models in the Museum of Rum, the Brugal warehouse in Puerto Plata or in front of the BEICA offices in Santo Domingo. This piece of wood later became the symbol of rum production!

As any technology, also this one was redesigned and innovated to produce with more efficiency and volume.

One of the first artifacts to press the juice out is located in the Museum of Rum and is called Cunaya or also Majaculo. This was leaned to a tree for example, the sugarcane placed in the hole between the wooden parts and squeezed by sitting on the handle. The juice got extracted in small quantities…

Newer forms of sugarcane mills were invented using manpower. The period of slavery was ended sometime between 1820-1840 so it is definitely not connected with rum production in the Dominican Republic.

And this is the most famous sugarcane mill type (Trapiche in Spanish)

I have the following drawings from the book by Jose Chez Checo – “El Ron en la Historia Dominicana”.

As you can see this sugarcane mill was moved by ox. I found another nice photo on wikipedia. As the sugarcane gets pressed the juice falls down into the canoe and in the end into to pot which is later heated up. When this one got full new ones were place under it.

To make the work cheaper new types of mills were invented. Below a mill powered by the wind and the other one by water.

The following mill is located in the Museum of Rum stated that it comes from Buffalo. The influence of metal got into sugar production.

Exploring the internet i stumbled upon some fascinating videos. Here a video using this mill the traditional way.

Later some heavier mechanics were used. This one definitely looks interesting – a more industrial version.

Here a video made for the Museum of Rum. The parts from the sugarcane factory start at 2:50

As you can see the sugarcane mill went through some interesting evolution beginning with small production to a complex sugar producing system. For me a fascinating evolution of the symbol for rum production.

What do you think? Do you have any interesting sugarcane mill photos?

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