The expression “Three Bs” is familiar to many rum lovers. This is the name of three famous Dominican brands: Brugal, Bermudez and Barcelo. The undoubted leader of this trio is Brugal & Co, whose factories produce about 27 million liters of rum per year.
Historical reference. After leaving his homeland, the Catalan Andres Brugal Montaner lived for several years in Cuba, where he thoroughly studied the technology of making rum from molasses. In 1888 Senor Brugal moved to the Dominican Republic and built a distillery there.
Don Andres greatly improved the Cuban method. The Brugal family still keeps the exact recipe of the signature drink a secret, but the taste of young Brugal rum is much drier than that of rum from other producers.
At a small distillery, they made inexpensive young rum: high-quality, but without frills. At first, there was no question of any kind of aging, the first warehouses for aging rum at the factory were built only in 1920.
By the 70s of the XNUMXth century, Brugal & Co had become the largest producer of golden rum. The company already owned three plants: two in San Pedro de Macoris and one in Puerto Plata.
Only in 1976, the company’s blenders first produced premium rum – Brugal Extra Viejo. The experience turned out to be very successful: the drink won several awards at various competitions.
During the 2008 crisis, the Brugal family had to sell 80% of the shares for 200 million pounds to the Scottish company Edrington Group. However, the new owners have not made any changes to the production process, and even the position of chairman of the board of Brugal & Co is currently held by George Arceno Brugal.
A special pride of the company’s management is that only Dominican molasses is used as a raw material for rum, and not cheaper imported ones. Brugal & Co is pushing for Dominican rum to be given the status of Denomination of Protected Origin (DOP): a product that is produced only in a certain territory, analogues are tequila in Mexico and champagne in Champagne.
Types of rum Brugal
Brugal & Co produces the following varieties of rum:
- Brugal Blanco Especial – colorless transparent rum with a strength of 40%, aging period – 1 year. The drink has a slight aftertaste of tropical fruits;
- Brugal Carta Dorada – golden-colored rum (38%), 3 years old, with a caramel-fruity taste;
- Brugal Extra DRY – colorless transparent rum (40%), a blend of rum spirits aged 2-5 years in charred American oak barrels (from whiskey). To eliminate the color, the drink is filtered three times. The taste of rum is dry, with vanilla, citrus and coconut notes;
- Brugal añejo is an amber-colored rum (38%), made according to the same recipe as Brugal Extra DRY, but not filtered. In a dry, slightly oily taste, the sweetness of caramel is balanced by oak bitterness;
- Brugal XV (Extra Viejo) is an amber-colored rum (38%), a blend of rums aged 3–8 years in whiskey barrels and rums aged 2–3 years in sherry casks. Taste – caramel-fruity;
- Brugal 1888 is an old amber-colored rum (40%), a blend of rum spirits, which are first aged for 6-8 years in American oak barrels, then 2-4 years in sherry casks. The taste harmoniously combines shades of toffee, caramel, licorice and oak;
- Brugal Papa Andres – mahogany rum (40%). The drink was created in the 2013th century especially for the Brugal family and his friends. Rum first went on sale in XNUMX. It is a blend of rum spirits aged in bourbon casks, Pedro Ximenez sherry and Oloroso sherry casks. The drink is poured into Italian crystal decanters, the inscription on the metal plate and the pattern on the cork are hand-engraved in the Scottish studio Glencairn Crystal.
