The Angostura line of rums has drinks for all occasions: both young, intended for cocktails, and aged premium-class rums in an elegant gift box, which are usually served as a digestif.
Angostura rum is made in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Today the drink is exported to 165 countries. Robert Wong, Chief Executive Officer of Angostura Limited, explains the popularity of branded rums with loyalty to tradition, high quality spirits and a creative approach to its production.
History of rum Angostura
In the 10-20s of the 1820th century, adventurers and romantics from Europe flocked to South America, under the banner of Simon Bolivar, who raised an uprising for the independence of the Spanish colonies. In 24, the German doctor Johann Siegert arrived at the headquarters of Bolivar, located in the port city of Angostura at the mouth of the Orinoco. At the age of XNUMX, he had already served as a surgeon in the Prussian army and took part in a military campaign.
From his own experience, the young doctor knew that in war casualties from colds and intestinal infections were no less than from wounds. In the Bolívar army, tropical diseases were added to this list, primarily malaria.
In the homeland of Siegert, people have long been treated with healing bitters – bitters. Arriving in Venezuela, the surgeon set about creating a bitter for malaria and indigestion from local herbs and cinchona bark. Soon, Bolivar himself appreciated Sigert’s medical talents and appointed him senior surgeon at the hospital in Angostura.
Siegert’s tincture, called at first Amargo Aromatico, and later “Dr. Siegert’s Aromatic Bitters”, was such a success that since 1824 the surgeon began not only to offer it to his patients, but also to sell it to everyone. And when he retired in 1850, he built his own distillery and registered the Dr. JGB Siegert & Hijos. In the next twenty years, the healing properties of Siegert’s bitter were appreciated by consumers on both sides of the Atlantic. For example, this bitter was Mark Twain’s favorite medicine.
Dr. Siegert’s sons, Carlos, Adolf and Luis, inherited their father’s business in 1870. Soon, popular unrest began in Venezuela, and after 6 years the Siegert brothers emigrated to the island of Trinidad. The bitter, produced according to a family recipe in a new distillery, was called “Angostura”. In 1921, the company was transformed into a joint stock company and received the name “Angostura Bitters (Dr. JGB Siegert & Sons) Limited”.
Even at the beginning of the XNUMXth century, the Siegerts were carried away by experiments with the distillation of rum. True, the first rum made at the Angostura distillery was nothing special. Everything changed when graduate chemist Robert Siegert decided to make the company a regional leader in the production of this drink.
For ten years, from 1936 to 1946, Senor Siegert and his colleagues perfected Angostura rum. His recipes are still kept secret. However, it is known that molasses from sugar cane grown in four different areas is mixed in the must in a strictly defined proportion.
The rum, which went on sale in 1946, was so popular with customers that three years later the company was forced to purchase a new distillery Trinidad Distillers for the production of rum, and in 1973 another one, Fernandes Distillers.
In the second half of the 70th century, the company prospered, becoming the official supplier of spirits to the English and Swedish royal courts. In the 1985s, Angostura Limited became one of the largest taxpayers in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, second only to oil exporters. In 20, the company was awarded the Hummingbird government award for its contribution to the industrial development of the state. By the end of the XNUMXth century, Angostura’s liquor sales volume was XNUMX million liters per year.
In 1997, CL Financial Group bought out a controlling stake in the company. The new owners intended to unite several well-known producers of Caribbean rum in one holding. To this end, they acquired the famous Jamaican brand Appleton Estate, taking a bank loan secured by Angostura. As a result of financial adventures, the company suffered a loss of a billion dollars in 2009, lost the US market and almost went bankrupt. Rum and bitter sales declined, and there was even a rumor in commercial circles that Angostura Limited was closing.
The firm was saved by the decisive actions of the government, the sale of the Appleton Estate and the complete change of management of Angostura Limited. In 2012, Robert Wong was appointed Executive Director of the company, who restored the previous volumes of production of alcoholic beverages, updated the equipment of enterprises.
Rum “Angostura” won 107 medals at international exhibitions. The firm has opened a school of coopers, where recognized experts teach young people from all over the Caribbean to make special barrels for aging rum.
Cocktail Rumaple (“Maple Rum”)
The Roma Ministry of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago recommends the Rumaple cocktail:
- half a lime;
- 50 мл рома Angostura Reserva;
- 2 drops of Angostura Orange bitters;
- 20 ml of Maraschino Luxardo liqueur;
- 15 ml of maple syrup;
- 50 ml of pineapple juice;
- ice cubes.
Recipe: cut half a lime into 6 pieces, pour over the rest of the ingredients and mix in a shaker with ice cubes. Pour the drink into a cocktail glass and garnish with pineapple slices and leaves.
Types of Rum Angostura
9 varieties of Angostura rum are produced:
- Angostura Reserva is a clear, colorless rum aged three years, 37,5% ABV. It has a creamy vanilla aroma, a dry taste and a smooth, silky aftertaste. Rum was created specifically for fruit cocktails;
- Angostura 5 Year Old is a golden rum (40%) that has been aged for 5 years in charred oak barrels. The taste is soft, chocolate-vanilla, with hints of spices and burnt oak. The drink is served either as a digestif, or as part of cocktails with herbs;
- Angostura 7 Year Old – premium rum, amber-red color (40%). The drink is aged for 7 years in bourbon barrels. In a mild taste, notes of chocolate, creamy toffee, maple syrup and honey harmoniously complement each other. Rum is served with ice as a digestif, in addition to a cigar or as part of a Manhattan cocktail;
- Angostura 1919 – premium rum, rich amber color (40%). A complex blend of spirits at least 8 years old. The drink was created by blender J. Fernandez, the owner of Fernandes Distillers (nowadays one of the divisions of Angostura Limited). In 1932, after a fire in government warehouses, Señor Fernandez purchased a shipment of charred casks of rum that had been aged since 1919. On its basis, rum “1919” was first created. The chocolate-vanilla taste of the drink gradually reveals halftones of honey and almond-coconut nougat, ending with a warm, long aftertaste;
- Angostura 1824 – premium rum, old amber color (40%). The drink is manually mixed from selected spirits, which are aged for 12 years in charred bourbon barrels. The rum was first released in 1999, to mark the 175th anniversary of the company (founded in 1824), and has been produced in limited quantities ever since. The taste of the drink is soft, vanilla-honey, with undertones of raisins, orange peel and a warm aftertaste;
- Angostura 1787 is a premium brown rum (40%). In 1787, the first sugar refinery in Trinidad was founded on the Lapeyrouse plantation. The drink has been produced since 2016. This is a complex blend of 15-year-old spirits. As a result, the rum acquires a banana-apple flavor with a slight bitterness of dried fruits and burnt oak, gradually changing to notes of prunes and ending with a long warm aftertaste with a hint of creamy toffee;
- White Oak Rum – colorless transparent rum (40%), the most popular in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. The drink is aged in oak bourbon barrels. The citrus-vanilla flavor of the rum becomes harder and drier due to oak bitterness;
- Royal Oak Select Trinidad Rum is a dark amber rum (40%), consisting of a mixture of spirits with an aging period of 5 to 7 years. The taste is sweet, caramel-coconut, with a tart spicy aftertaste. The drink is suitable for cocktails;
- Angostura Single Barrel Reserve Limited Edition is a bronze-colored rum (40%), consisting of several spirits, which are aged for at least 5 years in bourbon barrels. Each time the master selects the blend manually, so the drink is produced in limited quantities. The drink smells of candied fruit and brown sugar. Coffee-creamy taste with a touch of dried apricots is balanced by spicy oak-pepper tones.
