Santa Teresa 1796 premium aged rum from Venezuela

November 3, 7:01 PMRum ExaminerRobert A. & Robert V. Burr

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This premium solera aged rum celebrates the origin of the hacienda in 1796 with a complex blend of 4 to 35 year old Venezuelan spirits.

Santa Teresa 1796
premium aged rum
from Venezuela.
Photo by Robert Burr.

The product exhibits deep rich mahogany brown color. Initial aromas of caramel and spices are enhanced by a complex bouquet of dried fruits, toffee, citrus and vanilla. Hints of sherry lead to rich medium-dry spiciness, mellow tobacco and oak. The long, smooth finish is well balanced and elaborately nuanced.

The 1796 rum is aged in a special cellar which is located next to the Casa Tovar in Santa Teresa, known as the "Criadero de Ia Solera" or nursery.

The company uses a unique solera method for aging their finest rums, featuring a cascading series of four levels of oak barrels. The rum which enters the top layer of the solera system is a blend called mother, made up of light rum, pot still rum and rum aged with almendron.

Select rums in the top barrels age for a year, then half of the contents of the top barrels are transferred to the series of barrels below, and so on to the fourth set of barrels. The final product (the heart) is transferred to large Limousin oak casks which are half emptied at the time of bottling. WIth this technique, a percentage of the rum in the heart is age-old, having never left the system.

The company's roots on the plantation trace back to late 18th century where aguardiente was produced in plentiful supply. Gustavo Vollmer began modernization with a copper still from Europe in 1885. The Ron Santa Teresa trademark was established in 1909. When Alberto Vollmer took over the operation in the late 1920s, Santa Teresa began large-scale production. The company continued to improve their facilities for distilling, aging and blending rums, launching their flagship premium 1796 product in 1996.

The Santa Teresa brand includes Blanco, Claro, Gran Reserva, Selecto, Araku (coffee mestizo liqueur) and Orange Liqueur.

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Robert Burr
National Rum Examiner
Gifted Rums Guide
Miami Rum Renaissance Festival
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