Ron Santa Teresa Rum with Alex Noriega

Cocktails Distilled

Located in a land of turbulence, Ron Santa Teresa is Venezuela's oldest rum distillery, and actually the third oldest distillery in the world.
For over 200 years, the brand has walked the delicate tight rope of political and economic upheaval, looking to their rum and their community as a way through the chaos.

Santa Teresa 1796 was created in 1996 to commemorate the bicentennial anniversary of the Hacienda and has proved its ongoing popularity with rum drinkers due to both its flavour and production method.

To find out more, we speak to Brand Ambassador, Alex Noriega about the brand, Solera systems and how the rum can be used.

Chapter

1. Ron Santa Teresa Rum with Alex Noriega (00:00:00)

2. Now you are a brand that has survived wars, revolutions, invasions, and dictators. What is it about Santa Teresa that you feel is so special? (00:01:36)

3. Now, how do you incorporate 200 years of history and tradition into a single expression? (00:03:22)

4. Now the rum is a blend of both column and potstill. Why is that? (00:04:07)

5. Speaking of the ageing you are doing it in French limousine Oak. What flavors does that give to the rum? (00:04:56)

6. From there they go into a solera system. What made you think to adapt the Sherry technique? (00:05:43)

7. People are quite fascinated by Solera systems. What do you think that is? (00:06:59)

8. Do you want to go into a little bit more detail about how it's set up and how it actually works? (00:07:37)

9. And how long does that process actually take for it to move its way down? (00:09:10)

10. Now age references is probably one of the most misunderstood aspects of Solera. Do you think people put too much value on age? (00:09:28)

11. What has the reaction been to the rum? (00:11:19)

12. If someone's experiencing the rum for the first time, how would you recommend that they do that? (00:12:12)

13. Have any bartenders made cocktails that you didn't expect with the rum? (00:12:45)

14. Now, if consumers were going to take away one thing from their experience with Santa Teresa, what would you like that to be? (00:13:53)

15. Now, speaking of Project Alcatraz, how important are social transformation initiatives like that, to the brand? (00:14:39)

16. Now, if people have tried rums from other areas of the Caribbean, what will they find different about a rum from Venezuela? (00:15:53)

17. What does the future look like for Santa Teresa? (00:16:38)

18. Talking of where it's available, obviously that would be throughout the US, whereabouts elsewhere? (00:17:16)