Production
The Barceló family estate is located in San Pedro de Macorís, and contains several warehouses for alcohol aging, blending, bottling, and storage, as well as a laboratory, barrel workshop, and visitors center.[15][16] The sugarcane is grown, juiced, and distilled at a separate location, at Alcoholes Finos Dominicanos (AFD), which Barceló partially owns.[2] The distillery operates for around 10 months in the year, as "zafra", or harvest season, ends in early October, after which AFD closes for maintenance for eight to ten weeks.[6] The water is sourced from three wells under the distillery and is treated and demineralized.[6]
Before 1999, Barceló sourced its rum from distilleries that used molasses,[6] however since 2010, it is made from sugarcane juice.[16] The juice is then fermented into a wine of around 8% ABV, using a commercial bread yeast, temperature controlled at 35-40°C for around 24 hours.[6] The wine is then distilled to 95% ABV in a series of six-column stills, but only four of the six available columns are used.[6] This process produces a very light, neutral alcohol[6] typical of Spanish-style rum production, though, unlike some countries that blend lighter, more neutral distillate with heavier, more flavorful distillate, such as is common in Cuba, Barceló commissions only very high ABV, neutral rum, so that the only flavor is from barrel aging.[6] White rums are carbon filtered after aging to remove color, and darker rums are chill filtered.[6] The waste product, called vinasse, is removed and used as fertilizer,[3] the bagasse produces almost all of the biofuel energy needed for the distillery, and carbon dioxide is captured during fermentation and sold to third parties.[6] The rum is diluted to 71-72% ABV and matured in toasted ex-Bourbon American oak barrels and ex-wine French oak casks.[6][3] Barceló has an in-house cooperage which scrapes and chars barrels from medium to high toast (levels 3 to 5).[6] A barrel may be in use for 50 to 70 years in its lifetime, though newer barrels impart more flavor into the rum than older barrels.[5] Due to a prohibition on topping up barrels to adjust for losses to evaporation in the Dominican rum DOP, double-aging is common.[6]
In 2016, Barceló was certified as ISO 14067 carbon neutral by SGS.[17]
Journalists have criticized Barceló for adding sugar to their rums without disclosure.[18]
