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Flor de Caña: Nicaragua’s
Nectar
It would be remiss to talk about lifestyles in Nicaragua
without mentioning Flor de Caña, the country’s
crown jewel rum. Whether celebrating a stunning Pacific
coast sunset or a marriage, you can be certain Flor
de Caña will be a welcomed guest.
Photos by Dan Polley
Story by Cheryl L. Serra
A recent tour of the Compania Licorera de Nicaragua
(CLN), which produces neutral spirits, aged alcohol,
and bulk rum in addition to its Flor de Caña
family of rums, showcases the award-winning processes
and products for which the company is world known.
The CLN was founded in 1937 and was dedicated to producing
and marketing the rum produced in Chichigalpa. The Flor
de Caña brand was born at this time. CLN is a
member of Grupo Pellas, a leading Central American group
of companies that includes BAC Credomatic, Casa Pellas,
Seguros America, and Estesa. The molasses used in the
rum-producing process at CLN is made by another Grupo
Pellas company.
Winding your way through Chichigalpa, located about
two hours northwest of Managua, one might expect a marching
band and huge corporate offices trumpeting the CLN’s
facility. Instead, there is a simple yellow wall with
Flor de Caña’s name on it. Perhaps the
most surprising thing to learn on this tour is that
such a large quantity of fine rum produced and distributed
to some 45 countries comes out of such an unassuming
facility. The facility consists of a number of buildings
used for administration, fermentation, distillation,
quality control, bottling and aging the rum.
But it’s not the buildings that get your attention.
The first thing to greet you when you set foot on CLN
is the sweet smell of molasses.
The Rum-Making Process
First stop on the tour, led by Carlos Hernandez Teran,
is designed to provide background on CLN, Flor de Caña,
and the products produced and distributed here. Behind
glass showcases are the main players: Several brands
of Flor de Caña, as well as the following rums,
which are distributed only in Nicaragua: Tropical, Tayaca,
Canita, Caballito. Ron Plata is also produced here and
is sold in Nicaragua and exported throughout Central
America. The Flor de Caña brand of rum is aged
in lengths ranging from four years to eighteen years,
Carlos explains.
Remnants of an earlier era of rum-making are on display.
They include manual bottle fillers and sealers and a
boiler pump.
The actual process to produce rum begins with the sugarcane
harvest in Chichigalpa. The harvest begins in early
November, when the rainy season ends, and ends in May.
Cane molasses is made from the pressed sugar cane is
rich in sugar and is the raw material used in the production
of Flor de Caña rums.
Outside, trucks carry molasses produced by Ingenio
San Antonio to the CLN. The rich, dark, gooey molasses
is pumped into an underground system and then pumped
up to one of more than a dozen storage tanks, each containing
many gallons of molasses.
CLN also has a warehouse in Puerto Corinto where additional
molasses may be stored. Since the sugar cane is only
produced for part of the year and the rum needs to be
produced throughout the entire year, it is necessary
to ensure that there is enough molasses to meet demands.
From the tanks the molasses is pumped to a building
where it undergoes fermentation. Fermentation is described
as a chemical change with effervescence, or bubbling,
hissing and foaming as gas escapes. Special yeasts are
added to the molasses in this process. After about 24
hours the yeast converts the sugar in the molasses into
two products: alcohol and carbon dioxide.
Following fermentation, the fermented ‘wash’
is ready for distillation. Distill is defined by Webster’s
dictionary as, “to subject to a process of vaporization
and subsequent condensation, as for purification or
concentration”. For this process, an energy efficient
seven-column distillation unit is used. The seven columns
allow for the simultaneous manufacture of different
types of top-grade alcohol.
According to The Beverage Testing Institute free website,
www.tastings.com, “All rums come out of the still
as clear, odorless spirits. Barrel aging and the use
of added caramel determine their final color. Since
caramel is burnt sugar, it can truthfully be said that
only natural coloring agents are used.”
The Beverage Testing Institute was founded in 1981.
Its aim is to produce fair and impartial wine reviews.
Over the years, the BTI’s buying guides have appeared
in the Wine Enthusiast, The New Yorker Magazine, Wine
& Spirits, and many others.
Benito Tercero, manager of the distillation area, explains
that impurities in the alcohol are removed during this
phase of the process. Two processes are used to accomplish
this – heat for the non-aged rum and a vacuum
for the aged rum. Impurity-free neutral alcohol is produced,
as well. The final product is 95 percent alcohol. Throughout
the process here, the liquid is tested and retested
to ensure there are no impurities.
From a personal point of view, Tercero, 41, says the
manufacture of rum in Chichigalpa has had a big impact
on his life. He started working here as a maintenance
man 21 years ago. He worked his way up to his position
– earning a scholarship and studying chemistry
on the way. He illustrates the company’s desire
to reward good work by pointing to a young man working
in his area. The young man began his employment at the
company by cleaning the facilities. He then worked his
way up to security and now works in the distillation
area.
From distillation, the raw alcohol goes to the quality
control area. Flor de Caña is the first rum-producing
company to have received ISO 9000 certification. ISO
9000 is a family of standards for quality management
systems. It’s clear that quality is important
here. Also tested here are molasses before the yeast
is added and rum.
Glass bottles with labels line shelves and employees
perform batteries of tests, ranging from chemical analysis
to actually tasting the rum. Responsible for this area
of the process is Belken Canales. Canales explains that
if the alcohol that comes here doesn’t make muster,
it is either reprocessed until it does or destroyed.
The rum is tested for color, body and taste.
Pedro Rafael oversees all the test results and has
been the official ‘tester’ for 30 years.
He has the final say as to whether the rum will ever
make it to the shelves. He only tests twice a day he
says with a grin. And “only a little.”
Later, against a backdrop of thousands of barrels of
aging rum, Rafael ceremoniously tastes the rum. He teaches
those on the tour to smell the rum first. Just like
with food, he says, if it smells bad, it will probably
taste bad. Then it’s time to taste the rum with
your tongue to experience the sweetness, swallow it
slowly, take a deep breath, feel its warmth in your
throat. This is not a process to be rushed or an item
to be checked off a to-do list; rather, it is to be
savored and contemplated in tranquility. If the earlier
chemical analysis of the rum is good but the taste is
bad, Rafael will reject the rum.
Once the rum gets a clean bill of health and taste
in the quality control area, the rums that will be aged
are sent to one of the 20 warehouses, each of which
houses thousands of barrels. The management of the aging
process process – when each barrel goes in, when
it is scheduled to come out – is very important
for obvious reasons.
The barrels are made of white oak and many are purchased
in Kentucky, where in their previous lives they served
as vessels for whiskey production. The barrels used
to age the rum are first used elsewhere to process whiskey
or wine. The enzymes produced in these processes aid
in successful rum production. About 25 percent of the
barrels that come to Chichigalpa from either the United
States or Canada are damaged. An entire area of the
facility is devoted to repairing these barrels and others
that may be damaged along the way and ensuring their
airtight integrity. The processes used to repair the
barrels are very specific to the job at hand. For instance,
the bark of a plantano tree is used to seal the barrel.Barrels
are used here between one and five times.
Once the aged rum barrel is opened, the rum is again
tested for quality before sent to the blending area.
Blending ensures a consistent quality and uniformity
in the rums produced by CLN. The color, intensity, aroma,
and flavor are checked in the laboratory to ensure that
Flor de Caña’s standards of excellence
are met.
While the blending area is off-limits to tourists due
to the propriety nature of its activities, this is what
Tastings.com says about aged rums: “Añejo
and Age-Dated Rums are aged Rums from different vintages
or batches that are mixed together to insure a continuity
of flavor in brands of Rum from year to year. Some aged
Rums will give age statements stating the youngest Rum
in the blend (e.g., 10-year-old Rum contains a blend
of Rums that are at least 10 years old). A small number
of French island Rums are Vintage Dated.”
So now you’ve got a variety of rum, some of it
patiently aged. What happens next? It’s off to
the bottling and distribution areas. Here, with the
help of several conveyor belts, recycled rum bottled
are cleaned and checked to ensure they’re not
broken. They undergo several inspections before they
can be reused. As we watch, one of the keen-eyed bottle
sentinels grabs a passing bottle off the line. The shadow
of glue on the bottle makes it ineligible to continue
without being further cleaned. Factors such as fill
height and bottle closure are monitored, as well. Conveyor
belts are also used in the labeling process. Employees
line the sides of the belt making sure the labels face
the correct way and are in the correct location on the
bottle. This huge room is clean and breezy and whirring
with well-orchestrated activity. After labeling, the
bottles are vacuum sealed.
The modern equipment used in this area has been purchased
from a variety of places, including the United States,
Europe and Columbia.
While the 750 milliliter bottles of rum can be run
through the mechanized labeling process, the larger
and smaller sizes can’t, so employees armed with
paintbrushes and glue manually adhere the labels. Some
800 labels a day are attached by hand.
The various rums are then packaged according to factors
such as their brand, export requirements, and their
final destination. An adjacent warehouse is home to
seemingly endless boxes of rum; boxes are recycled at
the Chichigalpa facility. Simple signs taped to the
side of these cardboard mountains proclaim where they
will be going: El Salvador, Honduras, United States,
Mexico, Costa Rica, and Chili. Those being distributed
to Central American locations will be trucked while
others will go by air. Casa Pellas, another Grupo Pellas
business, is charged with rum distribution.
In 1999, the Rum Marketing International was founded
to help market and position of Flor de Caña in
five areas of the world, including the United States.
According to an article in the Houston Chronicle last
year, Miami generated the best sales for the brand.
Buoyed by the success in this southern U.S. city, other
markets are being tapped, including Houston, New York
and Los Angeles. These are top rum-consuming cities
in the country, according to the article.
From molasses to soon-to-be mojitos, this well-managed
rum machine tucked away inconspicuously in the northwest
corner of the country is bringing a little bit of Nicaragua
to the rest of the world.
Compania Licorera de Nicaragua (CLN) and Flor de Caña
(FDC) Facts
Bragging rights:
• CLN was the first rum producer to receive ISO
9000 certification. ISO 9000 is a family of standards
for quality management systems. CLN was the first company
in Nicaragua to receive ISO-14001, which is related
to environmental management.
• CLN has been the recipient of more than 74
international awards and certificates, including HACCP.
In addition to rum, CLN exports neutral cane spirits,
primarily to Europe, where it is used to produce several
internationally renowned brands.
• FDC’s Centenario 18 Year Old received
top ratings in Wine Enthusiast magazine’s “Best
of Year” issue which showcases the Top 100 wines,
values and the top 50 spirits of the year. FDC was one
of only three rum brands featured in the issue and received
a ‘superb and highly recommended rating’.
Wine Enthusiast Magazine is one of the world’s
most respected and quoted publications in the field
of wine and spirits.
• FDC also received top honors at the 2006 International
Review of Spirits Competition in Chicago, the largest
and most prestigious of its kind in the US. FDC won
four Exceptional medals, including three golds and a
silver.
• Hand labeling: Flor de Cana employees manually
put labels on about 800 bottles of rum a day.
• Distribution and exportation: 60 percent of
the rum produced by Flor de Cana is distributed in country,
while the remainder is distributed in 45 countries.
• Employees: The Flor de Cana Chichigalpa facility
employs about 650 local people.
To arrange a tour of CLN, please contact Orlando Barrera
at 274-4141.
For more information about Grupo Pellas, please visit
their web site at www.grupopellas.com
For more information about Flor de Caña, please
visit their web site at www.flordecana.com
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