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Brugal’s Papá Andrés decanter |
Brugal introduced a number of new products – including an ultra-premium, limited-edition rum retailing at US$1,200 – to buyers at the 2013 IAADFS Duty Free Show of the Americas.
Initially launched at the TFWA World Exhibition in October 2012, Brugal Papá Andrés, which was created for and enjoyed by the Brugal family for five generations, has never before been released for sale with only a few bottles from the vaults finding their way into the hands of collectors over the years through charity auctions.
Named Papá Andrés after the company’s founder Don Andrés Brugal, this limited-edition rum is targeted at connoisseurs and collectors.
Brugal Papá Andrés will play a key role within the Brugal portfolio providing a link with the heritage of this family-owned company, according to Brugal brand owner Edrington.
The crystal decanter was designed by Tridimage and created by the crystal manufacturer RCR in Sienna, Italy. An ornate metal neck collar graces its slender neck and a metal face plaque has been hand polished and finished with a sand blast engraving inspired by Dominican architecture and executed by the Glencairn Crystal Studio in Scotland.
The decanter is displayed in a high quality gift box which also contains a booklet containing photographs of both the Dominican Republic and the rum crafting process.
The Absent Presences booklet is a nostalgic trip to the past through the use of objects, documents, tastes and places. Spanish author Espido Freire wrote the book, which is accompanied by the photography of Carlos Spottorno.
Brugal Papá Andrés Arcos numbers just 500 units, which will sell in travel retail at a recommended retail price of US$1,200/€900.
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Brugal Papá Andrés Arcos on display at a lunch held during the 2013 IAADFS fair for customers and media guests |
Legacy of Brugal’s founding father
Since its foundation in 1888, each generation of the Brugal family has reserved its finest rums to craft a small number of bottles to be enjoyed at family celebrations.
For over 100 years, a limited number of casks containing this private reserve have been guarded in Brugal’s cellars at the family estate in the Dominican Republic.
Each year a small portion of this rum is extracted from the casks to prepare the annual bottling of Papá Andrés. The cask is then replenished with a selection of aged rums chosen by the family’s Master Blenders and laid down again.
In the last decade, members of the fourth and fifth generations of the Brugal family have begun to evolve the profile of this family product by introducing top quality rum aged in European oak barrels alongside that aged in traditional American white oak casks, learning from the experience of Edrington-owned whisky brand The Macallan.
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This decanter is one of just 500 units, retailing at US$1,200 each in travel retail |
Speaking before the Cannes show in October 2012, where the product was unveiled for the first time, Brugal & Co President Franklin Báez Brugal commented: “Papá Andrés is a rum which has evolved through the passion, care and expertise of five generations of Master Blenders, all of whom have been members of my family. Each year they have produced a unique rum bottling to celebrate the legacy left by our founding father, Papá Andrés. This year for the first time Brugal Papá Andrés will be shared with a select group of people who know and love our fine rum.”
The 2013 Brugal Papá Andrés limited edition, known by the name Arcos, is a golden-amber colour. Delicate to the nose, it is imbued with fruity overtones from the oak casks. Its aroma is described as elegant and complex, evolving as it settles in the glass, with subtle notes of caramel, wood, dried fruit and spices. Velvety on the palate, it is a well-balanced rum with subtle light, sweet notes and a long, smooth and refined finish.
Introducing Brugal Extra Dry to the Americas market
Also at the 2013 IAADFS Duty Free Show of the Americas, the company introduced Brugal Extra Dry to the Americas market with a lunch party for customers and media guests.
Described as a cask-aged white rum in the dry Brugal house style, Brugal Extra Dry uses a proprietary double-distillation technique to create a dry and clean spirit with fewer of the heavy alcohols that lend other rums their sweeter profiles.
This blend of Dominican Republic rums – aged a minimum of two years up to five years in white American oak casks – is triple charcoal filtered to achieve clarity and has a velvety mouthfeel as a result of the long ageing process.
Brugal Extra Dry (40%abv) can be drunk on the rocks, or mixed in cocktails.
Available in selected markets across the US, Brugal Extra Dry Rum has a suggested retail price of US$19.99. The rum is imported into the US by Rémy Cointreau USA Inc.
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Lunch hosts and hostesses with Brugal 1888, named after the year of Brugal’s founding |
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Brugal Extra Dry |
First female rum-maker in the family
Brugal Maestra Ronera Jassil Villanueva Quintana – the first female master rum-maker in the family – also attended the IAADFS show, where she noted the premiumisation of the travel retail channel, which was increasingly demanding higher-end products.
She also told The Moodie Report about the activities of the Brugal family’s charity foundation, which built a school in the Dominican Republic and also supports environmental, children’s and health projects.
Brugal production process
The production of Brugal Rum starts with harvest of local 100% Dominican sugarcane crops that are cut by hand and then milled. The molasses is combined with purified water and a proprietary yeast to initiate fermentation. The fermented liquid, or wine, then goes through a double-distillation process that removes many of the heavy alcohols that give most other rums their characteristic sweetness. The result is a cleaner, drier spirit, according to the company.
The ageing process takes place in the shadow of the mountains of Puerto Plata, using an inventory of over a quarter million selected white American oak casks. Because of the humid climate, the smoothness and character imparted by the wood takes place at a much faster rate. When the rum reaches maturity, the Brugal family’s Maestros Roneros, or Rum Masters, then select rums of varying ages to create the different blends.
Following the blending, the rums are married with purified artesian water during a resting period that heightens their smoothness. After bottling, Brugal’s signature nets are applied to each bottle by hand, on average, one every eight seconds.
About Brugal & Co
In the mid-19th Century, Andrés Brugal Montaner – a Spanish citizen from Sitges who had emigrated to Santiago de Cuba – moved to the Dominican Republic and settled in Puerto Plata, where in 1888 he founded Brugal & Co. Don Andrés’ expertise and rum-crafting skills were passed down through the Brugal family.
Brugal is run by the family’s fourth and fifth generation of Maestros Roneros, who continue the tradition started in 1888 as personal guardians of the rum-making process. With a dry house style, Brugal rums seek to stay true to the vision of founder Don Andres Brugal.
Brugal is one of the largest international golden rum brands in the world. Brugal – in which The Edrington Group took a majority stake in 2008 – is the leading rum brand in the Dominican Republic, where it has over 80% market share. It is also the number one rum in Spain, Europe’s largest rum market.
