The origins of Matusalem Rum

Distilling good taste of rum since 1872

Matusalem was born almost 150 years ago. The most wanted rum during Cuba’s Golden Age, an indelible icon of that era. We believe that elegance is timeless, a legacy that has been passed down from generation to generation. Our “leitmotiv” is to be pioneers in the pleasure of tasting, expressing and sharing natural good taste. Welcome to the club!

Origins

At the beginning of the 20th Century, Cuba was more than just a place with glamour, party and tourism. Santiago de Cuba, to the east, was the place in Latin America to be an entrepreneur. Visionaries made it their home and founded long lasting companies. Santiago de Cuba offered the rum’s perfect ecosystem to raise the bar and become the polished spirit we know today.

Name

In the year 1872, Matusalem founders created a brand with one purpose: to find a taste so unforgettable that could run away from trends and become timeless. Reason why Benjamín and Eduardo Camp, along with their partner, Evaristo Álvarez, gave the rum the name of Matusalem, following the biblical character who lived for 969 years.

The icon

Right after establishing the production facilities of Matusalem Rum, flocks of swallows flew over and even nested in it. Founders thought of this elegant bird, considered a free spirit, as the best representative for the brand. To provide legitimacy to the product, they portrayed the swallow with a scroll in its beak showing the word “trademark”.

The Golden Age

The island´s charm, its vibrant nightlife and exquisite Art-Deco architecture made Cuba the Paris of the Americas. Between the 1930s and 1950s, prohibition in the USA made it the perfect destination for Americans, some such as Ernest Hemingway, even ended up living on the island. During the Golden Age, Matusalem was the most popular golden rum and perfect partner to enjoy the island’s spirit.

Solera System for Rum

The Solera system is an antique technique used to make Spanish brandy and sherry wines. Matusalem's great contribution to the rum category has been to be the pioneers in applying the solera system to rum aging, making its flavor matchless. The intensity of the toasting of the barrels and rum blending is all controlled by the “Santiago Master Blender”, a position assigned to a single family member through the generations since 1872.

The aging’s savoir faire

The barrels are selected by the family and the “Santiago Master Blender” and lightly charred to achieve those unique Matusalem tasting notes as well as its taste consistency. The microclimate in Dominican Republic and Santiago de Cuba’s are quite similar, a key reason why this place was chosen to establish the new Matusalem Rum production facility in 2015. This process, called dynamic aging, a mix of barrels placed on different height above ground, gives rums a very particular aging with aromatic and floral notes. There is also the angel’s share, the 4,5% of rum that we lose in evaporation every year.