Flor de Cana, at the top of the Volcano

Interview with Alexandra Rosini, Flor de Caña brand ambassador

Hello Alexandra, thank you for granting us this interview. Can you please tell us about the origins of Flor de Caña and explain the link maintained with the volcano, emblem of your rum?

Flor de Caña is a rum from Nicaragua, from the only distillery in the country. It is an independent house with 130 years of history and 5 generations of the same family. It all started in 1890 when our founder Alfredo Francisco Pellas Canessa, of Italian origin, fell in love with Nicaragua and settled down there to plant his cane fields and found a sugar factory. Shortly after, Alfredo Francisco Pellas will decide to distill the molasses resulting from his sugar activity and will give birth to the Flor de Caña rums. It will also be the first eco-responsible action of the House by using sugar cane entirely, including bagasse as fuel in order to not produce any waste.

Flor de Caña is what is called a “Single Estate Rum”, that is to say that the entire production chain, from the growth of the cane to the bottling, is managed by the company , on site in Nicaragua, which guarantees the quality of the raw materials used.

We are the only distillery in the world to be certified fair trade and carbon neutral thanks to sustainable production and using only 100% renewable energy.

The particularity of our rums lies in the volcanic soil of Nicaragua: our sugarcane fields and our distillery are located at the foot of the San Cristobal volcano, which is still active today. The ash fallout will fertilize the soil and enrich the water with minerals. Combined with the tropical climate of Nicaragua, we obtain extremely round and supple rums.

To realize the importance of Flor de Caña, how many barrels does the distillery have? What is the average annual production of rum?

Our aging cellar is located in the northwest region of Nicaragua, at the foot of the San Cristobal volcano and contains nearly 320,000 barrels in continuous aging, making it the largest reserve of old rums in the world.

We produce more than one million cases of 9L per year, Flor de Caña being one of the most consumed premium rums in Latin America and exported to nearly 70 countries worldwide.

It is often said that Latino rums contain sugar. What about Flor de Cana?

Hispanic-style rums do indeed have that reputation. At Flor de Caña, we have chosen to produce the purest possible rum through a natural production process. Our five-column still will allow us to reach a high degree of heating which will eliminate the sugar naturally present in the molasses.

When the rum is then put in barrels to age, it knows no added coloring, no additives and no added sugar. All the aromas and the roundness of our rum are only brought by the years of aging in our reburned ex-bourbon casks and of course by the work of our Maestro Roñero, Tomas Cano.

0.70L 45° Rum from Nicaragua

Flor de Cana
20 years 130th anniversary

€115.00

Available in store

Which rums should you start with to discover the Flor de Cana range?

To discover the Flor de Caña universe and know-how, I advise you to start your trip to Nicaragua with the 14-year-old Flor de Caña, which is a gourmet rum with pastry notes of nougat and frangipane, bottled at 43°.

Continue the experience with our Flor de Caña 130th anniversary cuvée, commemorating the 130 years of existence of the House, which is a blend of rums aged on average 20 years, bottled at 45°. Here, it will be notes of sweet spices and nuts that will stand out on the nose and on the palate.

And finally to end the journey, taste our 25-year-old Flor de Caña, a woody rum bottled at 40°, with intense notes of tobacco, dark cocoa and vanilla.

Alongside tasting rums, Flor de Caña is advancing on the French bar scene. What are the projects on this side? Do you have a signature cocktail to offer us?

Absolutely, thanks to the work of my two colleagues Brand Ambassadors On Trade Mathis Barbat and Michael Leoni for the Côte d'Azur, Flor de Caña is now a benchmark for the bartender community in France.

We have also invited one of our partner bars, a world reference in the world of rum, to Nicaragua to select their barrels for the launch of an exclusive bottling in partnership with the brand. This limited edition, which will see the light of day in a few months, will also be available on the wine merchant network.

You will also find in several Parisian establishments, small Flor de Caña barrels containing cocktails in the process of aging ready to serve.

At the same time, our biggest initiative in 2023 is the organization for the third consecutive year of our international bartender competition, the “Sustainable Cocktail Challenge”.

This competition aims to invite and inspire the community of bartenders to reinvent the ingredients to create sustainable cocktails with Flor de Caña.

The idea is to create an eco-responsible cocktail by limiting the ingredients used and the waste generated by it.

The competition is open to all bartenders working in a cocktail bar type establishment.

For those interested, they can find all the information and register for the competition on the flordecanachallenge.com website or participate in one of our masterclasses which will take place in March/April by registering on our form.

They can also follow my instagram account alex_flordecana, in order to stay informed of all our events during the year.

0.70L 40° Rum from Nicaragua

Flor de Cana
14 years Centenario

€49.90

Available online and in store

What are the novelties to expect for 2023?

One of our big initiatives this year will be the establishment of workshops aimed at consumers called “Shake and Sip”. Flor de Caña rum is a real experience in its own right and we are committed to making it live for everyone.

To do this, we have decided that throughout the year, in cellars and bars, the different ways of tasting our rum will be offered in a fun way through a cocktail, a neat tasting or even an immersive tasting using five senses.

My final word is that 2023 will be placed under the Flor de Caña or it won't be…😊