Santa Teresa 1796 Solera

The fairly widespread call for strengthening crime penalties is a populist slogan, because it's based on the belief that prisoners live better than deserve and on top of that at taxpayer expense. Meanwhile, it is not the severity of the punishment but the inevitability of its execution that has the preventive effect on public safety.

Even if European countries are culturally similar, they codify non-conformism, deviation and crime differently. That's why comparing incarceration rate between them reveals such disparities. Diverse countries generate different number of inmates. The purpose of prisons is to rehabilitate and reintegrate individuals into society. The problem is they fail.

When culturally desired values are difficult to obtain, then crime may be perceived as cutting corners. However, there are countries where common crimes become somewhat of a necessity, a means of survival. Plunged in a deep crisis Venezuela belongs to those countries.

The Santa Teresa producer didn't report to the law enforcement authorities the criminals trying to rob his facility. He broke the vicious circle - sentence, prisonization, stigmatization and recidivism. In exchange, he offered a settlement - unpaid work as compensation, followed by vocational training and the prospect of employment. He saw in his fellow human being for whom he took responsibility. So the rum producer succeeded where a dysfunctional state fails. Starting from one decision and step by step, both worlds met, giving rise to the Alcatraz project, a rehabilitation program through sport. 🏉

The 1796 date placed in the brand name requires clarification. It's the foundation date of the hacienda, where wheat, indigo, coffee and sugarcane were cultivated. Less than a hundred years later it was bought by the German immigrant Gustav Julius Vollmer, who imported a copper still from Cologne and in 1909 registered the Santa Teresa distillery. Four generations later the company is led by Alberto C. Vollmer. In 2017 Bacardi took over the international distribution of the Santa Teresa brand.

Sugar cane comes from the fertile valleys of the Aragua region. The molasses ferments for 15 hours to be column and pot distilled. Rum undergoes four-level solera in ex-bourbon and ex-cognac oak barrels. The youngest component is four years old, the oldest - thirty-five; average in a bottle - twelve. Tests reveal 7.75g of sugar per 700ml bottle and the addition of caramel for enhancing naturally occurring colors, but nothing else.