Rum Masters / Maestro Roneros of CubaRon
The rum masters are the most important people in the distillery. They are responsible for all new creations and blends. For 15 long years the aspiring Maestro undergoes through a rigorous training. Under the supervision of a senior Maestro del Ron Cubano he learns to select the best molasses, supervise their fermentation and distillation, pick the best casks to age the distillates and blend them to obtain the finest rums.
First Rum Masters |
Don José Pablo Navarro (Havana Club Rum) Don José was born in 1942 (28th April) in Palma Soriano. He has lived in Santiago de Cuba city since he was 7 years old. José Pablo Navarro is the fifth of six siblings. He studied Chemical Engineering at the Universidad de Oriente, in Santiago de Cuba. He graduated from that high studies institution in 1964. José Pablo Navarro worked as a teacher of the school of Chemical Engineering till 1970. During this time, he was very active as a teacher and got to get a specialty in Physical Chemistry, Technical thermodynamics, Thermodynamics for Chemical Engineers and Mass Balance, as well as Energy applied to industrial plants. By 1968 he had already published some articles of academic significance.
In 1971 he left his work as a teacher and started in the rum industry, where form the first days he found a wide and preferential field to apply all the knowledge he had gathered along his years of studies. After 15 years he was called Maestro Ronero. He became more and more the most famous person of Havana Club. He Created some of the most best selling products like Havana Club 7 and Havana Club Maximo. His blends are the most accepted in the world. Probably he is also the most famous ronero in total. † Don José Navarro died after a fight against cancer in September 2020 † He was the first Maestro and the face of Havana Club! | Asbel Morales Lorenzo (Havana Club Rum) He was born on April 2, 1968 in a village in the municipality of Santo Domingo, Villa Clara province, within a working class family consisting of four brothers.After completing the pre-university studies in the town of Manacas, he attended technical studies of Technology of Beverages and Liqueurs in Havana, graduating in 1988. In that same year, he began working in the Central Rum Factory, working on different jobs linked to aging plants and rum manufacturing and mixing. His experience with rum, made him realize of its inseparable link to Cuban culture, with his unique technology and its tradition. In 1998 he graduated in Accounting and Technical Costs, applying his knowledge to the processes of the rum industry. In 2000, he began studying chemical engineering at the University Camilo Cienfuegos in the province of Matanzas. In those years he spent in the Central Rum Factory, he became part of the Movement of Masters of Cuban Rum of Cuba Ron Corporation, while involved in the research and development of new products and the reorganization of the wines in aging that guarantee the qualities necessary for the export of rum from this rum as well. In 2003, he began his work in the Rum Factory of Santa Cruz del Norte as Plant Manager. In this period, he also participated in the preparation of the construction projects of the Factory of Havana Club rums, located in the city of San José, current Mayabeque province. In 2006 he graduated as a chemical engineer and became part of the Project Group and Enforcement of the Rum Factory Havana Club of San Jose, doing his thesis on the verification of the operation of the brandy distilling system of Havana Club rum before the assembly of the plant, which was built in France under the technological requirements and know-how of masters of rum. As Master of Cuban Rum he has participated in the development of new rums from Cubay and Havana Club brands, and other from the Company of Liquors and Beverages. He also worked on the design of equipment, organization of aged bases and as professor in the preparation of specialists who would be part of the team of the Rum Factory of San José. He currently is a Master of Cuban Rum in the Rum Factory of San José. This factory was designed for the production of Havana Club brand rums. In close collaboration with marketing teams and commercial, he develops an arduous national and international communication task on rum Havana Club, participating in important events such as the International Fair of Havana, the International Exhibition of Paris, product launches and training of the sales forces, bartenders and others.
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Juan Carlos González Delgado (Havana Club) He was born in 1951 within a working class family. His first studies were in schools of todays Mayabeque province. He graduated from the University of Havana in 1976, and he began working in the Rum Factory of Santa Cruz that same year. He has worked in Quality Control and Research in gas chromatography, atomic absorption spectrophotometry, Sensory Evaluation and technology and production of rums and liqueurs. He has the status of Master of Cuban Rum since 2003 and as such he performs in the Rum Factory of Santa Cruz. |
Rum Masters
Francisco Sabat The perseverance and quality of the work carried out by Francisco Sabat at the El Valle Industry (Pinar del Río), were recently recognized by the Regulatory Council of the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) CUBA with the promotion to Cuban Rum Master, together with his colleague Noemí del Toro from Santiago de Cuba. | Noemí del Toro She had the honor to do the college practicum with Jose Pablo Navarro. Del Toro studied at the CUJAE, but she returned again to Santiago, and was assigned to work at Cuba Ron, which was called Empresa de Bebidas by that time. |
Salome Alemán Carriazo (Havana Club Rum) She was born on December 18, 1965 in Havana. She attended primary, secondary and pre-university studies in Old Havana municipality where she currently lives. She started college in 1983 at the Polytechnic Institute Jose Antonio Echeverria (CUJAE) in the field of Chemical Engineering in Food, from which she graduated in 1988. | Julio Enrique Ayan Rial (Santiago de Cuba Rum) He was born in Havana on April 7, 1970, but he spent his childhood and youth in the city of Santiago de Cuba, where he currently lives. |
César Augusto Martí Marcelo (Ron Cubay) He was born in the central region of Cuba in the municipality of Santo Domingo, Villa Clara Province on September 8, 1976, doing his studies in the town of Rodrigo of the same municipality. In 1991 he continued his education in the University of Exact Sciences "Ernesto Che Guevara" in the city of Santa Clara. | Tranquilino Palencia Estruch "Tano" (Santiago de Cuba Rum) He was born in 1947 within a typical family of the city of Santiago de Cuba, with strong patriotic feeling and historical and cultural sense. He studied at the College "De La Salle" whose motto was "God, Country and Home". He graduated in Chemical Engineering at the University of Oriente in 1972. He incorporated the same year to the nickel company Pedro Sotto Alba, of great technological complexity and a reference in the development of human relationships. All these, the Master Tano says, "it served as a complement to my training as a person and as a professional". |
Manuel Calderón Echevarría (Havana Club) He was born in the nest of a working class family on October 5th, 1956 in the province of Matanzas. He completed his undergraduate studies at the Jose Antonio Echeverria Polytechnic Institute, in Havana city, where he graduated from Chemical Engineering in the Food Specialty. |
Aspirants to Rum Masters
Mabel Hernandez Cuevas During her training as a chemical engineer at the University of Las Villas "Marta Abreu", she developed several practical activities linked to factories in the territory as part of the curriculum of the specialty, which allowed her to learn about:
Upon graduating in 1996, she was located in the Central Rum Factory "Agustin Rodriguez Mena." Villa Clara, where she has worked until now and has served as:
She serves as B. Quality Management Specialist and Management Representative for Integrated Quality Management System, Safety, Media room, Innovation, Human Resources. SST and Energy. | Mariá Caridad González Portuondo In 1996 she started to work in the Rum Factory of Santiago de Cuba as part of the first group of trained university graduated professionals received by this entity. During her training for the different areas of the rum factory, she showed much interest and concern in acquiring specific knowledge and develop skills that would be applied in her subsequent performance. Upon completion of the training she occupied the position of Technologist UEB Aging and Cooperage, and a few months later she was awarded the position of Chief of the Making Department of the UEB Aging and Cooperage where she worked directly to production, performing satisfactorily being followed and respected by her subordinates. |
Isabel Cristina Rivero Páez She was born on October 21, 1969 in the City of Santa Clara, Villa Clara Province. She completed her first studies in "La Edad de Oro" and "Juan Oscar Alvarado" schools and then in the pre-university "Fructuoso Rodriguez" in the same municipality reference. She continued her studies at the polytechnic school "Ejército Rebelde" located in Havana Province. She graduated in 1989 from " Beverages and Spirits Technician". | |
Maestro del Ron - Youtube-Video