In October, Dominican premium rum brand Brugal launched the first edition of its Colección Visionaria range, Cacao. Now, while limited-edition bottlings of ultra-premium rums are a frequent occurrence, this particular liquid is an innovation milestone for the category – the first showcase of a new cask seasoning technique developed by the brand’s maestra ronera Jassil Villanueva Quintana.
“There is a noticeable trend among premium rum producers to focus on enhancing flavours without resorting to added sweetness,” Villanueva Quinta tells Drinks International. “Consumers are increasingly seeking authentic, complex, and natural flavour profiles in their spirits.
“One of my most cherished childhood memories is of walking among the cacao trees surrounding my family home. I remember the lush and green cacao fields, the bittersweet scent of the cacao pods, and the rich aromas of roasted beans. It’s this memory I wanted to recreate.”
The process of aromatic cask toasting is not dissimilar to cold smoking. A chosen botanical, in this case cacao beans, is suspended inside virgin European oak casks during toasting to allow for vapour infusion into the wood.
“[It’s] a novel approach to toasting oak barrels which leverages controlled and precise temperature profiles,” she explains. “By having this control over temperature, it allows for a more uniform penetration of the aromatic notes [of the cacao] into the wood, resulting in a consistent and well-defined character profile with the selected ingredient.
“This way, we have a high level of control over the flavour profile. It enables customisation of the toasting profile according to the amount of ingredient, and the part of the ingredient. I can obtain different notes by toasting the casks with the leaves, the fruit or with both, or I could adjust factors like temperature and time to achieve specific flavour characteristics.”
Controlled process
Having greater control over the breadth of flavours that a cask can provide opens a world of flavour to rum makers. For the time being, the technique will be proprietary to Brugal and the distillery has plans to further explore the technique’s uses in future bottlings. But after two years of exclusivity, Villanueva Quintana wants to see it adopted across the category.
“Sharing this technique with the industry aligns with our commitment to advancing the craft of rum and spirits production,” she says.
“We believe that open collaboration can lead to the creation of new and exciting flavour experiences within the category for our consumers. I believe this technique could be applied to other spirits too, to create unique and refined flavour profiles. It might even find applications in the ageing of wines, adding new complexity to the oenological world.”
Brugal’s Colección Visionaria will serve as an important demonstration of the creative capabilities of aromatic cask toasting. Adding subtleties of flavour without adulterating a rum with ingredients is clearly an interesting proposition, whether it will ever take off among matured spirits like cask finishes did 20 years ago is a different question entirely.
What’s exciting is that, in the Dominican Republic, one rum maker has added another tool to the arsenal of every rum maker.
