Flor de Caña

Flor de Caña

Type	Rum
Manufacturer	Compañía Licorera de Nicaragua
Country of origin	Nicaragua
Introduced	1890
Alcohol by volume	40%
Proof (US)	70 - 80
Colour	Golden
Variants	Limón - 4 years Extra Light - 4 years Extra Dry - 4 years Gold - 4 years Black Label - 5 years Gran Reserva - 7 years Centenario - 12 years Centenario Gold - 18 years
Related products	List of rum producers
Website	FlordeCana.com

Flor de Caña (Spanish for "sugarcane flower") is a brand of rum distributed by Compañía Licorera de Nicaragua which is headquartered in Managua, Nicaragua.^[1]

History

Flor de Caña is made by Compañía Licorera de Nicaragua, S.A, (CLNSA) a member of Grupo Pellas.^[2] Compañía Licorera de Nicaragua was founded in 1937. Initially the company sought to develop a large sugarcane plantation so they built their first distillery in Chichigalpa (about 120 km from Managua) in 1890.^[3]

After building the distillery, it was not until 1937 that Flor De Caña was introduced by CLNSA. Grupo Pellas was founded in 1950. It was the first company to distribute the rum, and in 1959 it was first exported to Venezuela, Costa Rica and other Central American countries.^[4]

During 1963 and 1965 the plantation in Chichigalpa underwent modernization updates. Eight years later a second distillery was constructed in Honduras.^[5] The plantation in Chichigalpa was completely modernized in 1996.

In 1980, The Contras utilized funds from the Honduran distillery to form and fund "Death Squads".

On November 9, 2007, the Compañía Licorera de Nicaragua, which produces Flor de Caña, launched a new rum called "Zeta". Zeta combines 4 year old rums with citrus. The rum is targeted toward young adults 18 and over.^[6]

Recognition

Flor De Caña is renowned as one of the best rums in Latin America, having won more than 150 international awards since 2000 and has been the most award-winning rum brand during this period.^[7] It has captured gold, silver, and bronze medals and has received high recommendations from wine and liquor enthusiasts.^{[8][9][10][11][12]}

Brand symbol

A distinctive aspect of Flor de Caña is its brand symbol present on all bottles. The logo depicts a road, with palm trees on the sides, that continues on to the horizon. A chain of volcanoes is also seen on the horizon. The symbol was inspired by the railroad, along with the palm trees on the sides, that led to the San Antonio sugar mill located in Chichigalpa, Nicaragua, where the Flor de Caña rum was first produced, and where it continues to be produced today. The volcano in the center seen on the horizon is the San Cristobal volcano, the tallest in Nicaragua.

Product

Flor de Caña produces both white and dark rums.

Flor de Caña
Limón - 4 years	Extra Seco - 4 years	Gran Reserva - 7 years	Centenario - 12 years	Centenario - 18 years

Criticism

Products such as Flor de Caña have increasingly been the subject of criticism due to the association with an epidemic of chronic kidney disease - also known as Mesoamerican nephropathy - among sugar plantation workers: "At least 20,000 people are estimated to have died of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in Central America in the past two decades - most of them sugarcane workers along the Pacific coast."^[13] Ingenio San Antonio - Nicaragua's largest sugar mill owned by the conglomerate Grupo Pellas which produces Flor de Caña - has denied links between sugar plantation work and CKD, and have funded research into possible causes.^[14] However, other research has pointed to evidence that suggests that CKD is an occupational disease caused by "exposure to heat stress in conjuction with pesticide inhalation, sugarcane chewing and sugar intake during the workday."^[15]

Another more recent issue has arisen circa 2014 when Flor de Cana removed the word "years" from all their labels. Prior to this change, all products were labelled openly to indicate age, e.g. "4 Years", "7 Years" and the like. After the bottle and label redesign, the word "year(s)" was eliminated and the rums then became "Flor de Cana 4", "Flor de Cana 7", and the like. On their new website, the word "years" and references to "age" or "aging" no longer appear in the descriptions of the rums. To many drinkers this seemed to indicate the addition of younger rums to these various blends. Indeed, Flor de Cana seems to be admitting this at their website in a separate section called "Slow Aged", wherein they state "Each bottle of Flor de Caña contains a unique selection of aged rums. Younger, more robust rums and older, more delicate rums are blended".

References

External links

• Ron Flor de Caña official site
• Compañía Licorera de Nicaragua, S.A. official site
• Grupo Pellas official site
• Forbes.com interviews Mr. Carlos Pellas