Meet the world’s Youngest Rum grasp

Jassil Villanueva Quintana is a maestra ronera, Spanish for rum grasp. in the world of spirits, they play the alchemist liable for coaxing the fermented liquid into a blended libation that may be a pleasure to drink.

but as Quintana perfects the blends at Brugal, one of the vital biggest world golden rum manufacturers on the planet, she can’t lend a hand however stand out. now not simplest as a lady in a traditionally male-dominated business but, at just 28 years old, Quintana is the youngest rum grasp on the planet.

This places her at an interesting intersection within the spirits trade. It’s a time when millennials—a major staff of customers who’ve been exhaustively studied by way of entrepreneurs—are favoring brands like Hendrick’s that place themselves at the confluence of sophistication and historical past, the extra idiosyncratic, the easier. With a feminine millennial injecting her personal magic into the combo at Brugal, the emblem may be much more appealing to her discerning peers.

Brugal, founded in 1888 and presided over by means of five generations of Quintana’s family, doesn’t wish to manufacture heritage. Its founder, Andres Brugal Montaner, emigrated from Spain to Cuba throughout the 2d half of the nineteenth century, and later settled in Puerto Plata within the Dominican Republic, the place he established a rum industry that continues in his tradition to at the moment, even if Scotland’s Edrington owns a majority stake within the company. Brugal produces an ordinary of 89,000 liters per day, growing old it in over 200,000 American white alrightbarrels on website online in Puerto Plata. final year Brugal produced 24,672,931 liters.

although it can be currently the number-one brand in Spain and the Caribbean, Brugal isn’t in competition with the extra familiar Bacardi or Captain Morgan, each of which command a large a part of the worldwide rum market. irrespective of, as a result of top rate spirits are poised for increase—most likely on account of millennials’ penchant for quality and quirk, in keeping with industry research from IWSR. father or mother firm Edrington studies that specializing in Brugal’s top rate blends resulted in 50% increase globally in the closing year.

For her phase, Quintana is smartly-geared up for the problem of bringing the Brugal heritage to a brand new technology of sippers. She tells quick firm she never doubted she would ultimately sign up for the household business because of an inherent passion for the method she noticed thru watching her father and uncles observe their craft. Quintana is quick to note that she never felt force to follow in their footsteps, but understood that she couldn’t just soar onboard when she grew sufficiently old to participate.

in addition to formally interning at Brugal, she earned an undergraduate degree in industry administration from Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, in Santiago de los Caballeros, then hung out in the U.S. on the English Language Institute at Florida global college. Quintana then went back to get her MBA. most effective then did she really feel prepared to start the rigorous coaching required to develop into a maestra ronera.

“Making a top quality rum isn’t simplest about mixing and ageing, but additionally about overseeing the molasses, the distillation course of, and high quality of the distillate, the sourcing and high quality of our casks and the timber management, and the skill and course of we use to take our barrels and mix them into the perfect rum blend,” Quintana explains.

Of Brugal’s 1,000 employees, best 18% are women. despite persistent gender prejudice specifically against female rum masters, Quintana keeps, “ladies are confirmed to have a better feel of odor, and subsequently, some may say make even higher maestras.”

That’s doubtless why Quintana argues that she can’t remember that any batch being an entire catastrophe—”now not with the entire coaching we went thru to steer clear of it,” she pronounces. “on the other hand, I embody the instances once I didn’t get something just right—when a mix isn’t good or when some things just don’t come collectively the way you expect,” she admits. Quintana explains that part of a maestra’s job is trial and error with mixing as a result of each cask a while so differently. “screw ups helps us to research from our errors and grow to be better within the course of,” she says.

Quintana believes her attitude comes from the company tradition at Brugal, which encourages everyone’s opinions and concepts. “I used to be given the chance just lately to create our annual unique family blend—Papa Andres—and used to be given full keep watch over on my vision for that rum,” she deals as an example. “on occasion other people might have the ultimate say finally as a result of they are most experienced, and as my family elders and work elders, I recognize that,” Quintana says.

the flexibility to create her own blend that utterly reflected her own ideas and opinions resulted within the imminent Papa Andres Alegria blend, which is scheduled to be available in the U.S. this yr. “the consequences are really extraordinary,” Quintana enthuses about her different elixir, as a way to retail for $1,500 and are available in a crystal decanter.

Crafting the restricted-edition mix is just one milestone on Quintana’s profession journey, but one she’s taking to heart. “It feels great to paved the way for the longer term women in my household and the rum trade usually,” she says. She deals words of recommendation for other younger people who aspire to be trailblazers of their field: “Don’t be afraid to talk up and make mistakes. i was quiet and shy, unless I was able to in reality come out of my shell at college and then as a maestra. You’ll never study in case you remain quiet and reserved in your opinions.”