Brugal unveils second rum in ultra-premium range

Edrington-owned Brugal Rum has revealed the second limited edition expression in its Andrés Brugal Collection, with only 416 bottles available globally.

Andrés Brugal Edition 02 was crafted by fifth-generation maestra ronera Jassil Villanueva Quintana, and honours the brand’s founder Don Andrés Brugal and his descendant maestro roneros’ pioneering spirit of exploration and liquid artistry. Building on the success of the first release in the series, which honoured Brugal’s Dominican roots, Edition 02 celebrates the ‘spirit of exploration’ that is said to have defined Brugal since its founding, paying tribute to one of the places with which it has a strong history and legacy – the United States. The Spirits Business attended a private tasting of the new liquid, which retails at US$3,000 per bottle, with Brugal’s global education manager Jamie Campbell, during which he explained the concept and story behind this exclusive release. “With the Andrés Brugal collection, effectively what we have is a celebration of the best rums that the family produce. When we first worked to develop and launch Andrés Brugal 01, it was very much around the celebration of our founder Andrés Brugal, but also the journeys he took upon founding the brand and then setting up and internationalising it. Each release in the Andrés Brugal product line will celebrate one of the journeys Andrés took as part of his building of the brand in the early 1900s.” Pioneering aged rums For this new release, Campbell explains the aim was to focus on the brand’s relationship with the US and the Americas. “Andrés Brugal arrived in the Caribbean in the mid-1800s from Spain. Upon arrival, he first stopped in Cuba, where he started to learn about rum making – growing an appreciation for the spirit – and then he moved from there to the Dominican Republic. “He founded the Brugal Rum brand in the north of the island, in an area called Puerto Plata, which is now the ancestral home of Brugal, and where each generation of the founding family has lived. Here, he created the first aged rums in the Dominican Republic, and basically started ageing rums in casks, which had never been done before on the island. “As the brand became cemented in the Dominican Republic and started to really grow, he started to look at other opportunities for expansion. His first look was towards the US. So, in 1904, he took a first-class trip to the US on a fact-finding mission, and returned a year later with his sons.” It was at this point, Campbell says, that the ambition to break through into new markets became cemented. However, the arrival of two world wars and Prohibition soon meant expansion into the US slowed down and was eventually halted. It wasn’t until Prohibition was eventually repealed in 1933 that the ambition for growth was reignited, but, Campbell explains, it was the passing of the baton from Andrés Brugal to his youngest son that generated the most dramatic shift for the brand, as marketing, shipping and sales to the US gained pace, and Brugal began to expand into other markets. “So with this release, we celebrate that connection and that partnership with the US as a market. This is the brand's most prestigious limited edition release to date. The RRP on this is US$3,000, or £2,500. It's an incredibly limited bottle. The liquid makeup is four single casks that have been blended from the family reserve warehouses to create an exceptional quality liquid of a very, very limited allocation." American oak influence Campbell continues: “What we wanted to do with this product is celebrate that connection and that partnership with the US. For generations, we've worked with US distillers and cooperages who supply ex-Bourbon casks, which the majority of our rums are aged in today. But with this expression, what we have is a celebration of the best casks we've ever really worked with – all using American oak. “The cask makeup is three ex-Bourbon casks – all American oak – with one single virgin American oak cask.” These four single casks together have produced 416 bottles of Edition 02, Campbell says, a number that may have been higher were it not for the 8%-12% angels’ share lost annually in the ageing process – a loss typical for the region. He says the Dominican Republic’s average temperature of 32ºC year-round is “a huge advantage. All of our warehouses are strategically positioned to really capture and maximise that journey of the sun across the sky; we've got anywhere between 10 to 14 hours of sunlight a day, which really exaggerates that ageing process. What we have in the glass is an incredibly limited liquid from the highest-quality casks we have available.” All four casks were sourced from the Brugal family’s reserve warehouses – which are reserved solely for casks that the family have laid down for themselves. However, Campbell says that since the brand has started to expand, it has opened that up for the creation of limited edition bottles, such as this. Tasting notes Bottled at 41.5% ABV, Andrés Brugal Edition 02 boasts a ‘radiant’ golden amber hue. The tasting with Campbell demonstrated initial aromas of coconut that give way to white pepper, the majority of which comes from the new American oak. Meanwhile, on the palate, vanilla is presented alongside more coconut notes and gentle spice, reminiscent of French toast and sweet breakfast cereals. The finish, for all its vanilla and Bourbon influence, is very dry – the result of cask ageing and the subsequent saturation of the tannins in the wood. Campbell says: “This has been a real learning curve, particularly with this product and with the previous rums, and especially for rum aficionados who would typically lean towards the big, heavy ester profile rums, whether it's from Jamaica or Guyana or Barbados, where you've got these big, bold flavour profiles. This is not one of those. It's a lot more subtle, a lot more complex. But it's really that nuanced balance between the two types of casks that create that journey across the palate, which for me is what sets Brugal apart as a true exclusive style of rum. “This is testament to the skill of the maestros being able to not only identify those casks, but put them to a harmonious final profile. I think [this rum] is a great communicator of the American oak influence. Really being able to pick out each of those identifiers – from the coconut notes, the vanillas, the orange oils, and then that oak spice – makes it truly a celebration of those American casks, and, of course, of the relationship we've had with the US for so long.” Andrés Brugal Edition 02 is presented in a bespoke travel-inspired case, with a design rooted in Brugal’s exploration heritage. The case is adorned with a red coin and map of America, evoking the voyages of Andrés Brugal and the generations of maestros that followed. Inside the case, a hand-blown crystal decanter and two exclusive glasses accompany the liquid. The ultra-premium expression launched worldwide on 5 March, and is available in select retailers across the US and UK. According to the Distilled Spirits Council of the US, sales of ultra-premium rum have surged by 16% in the past five years.