Archive Magnum
19 novembre 2024
The Magnum series started in 2021 when the expertise of Luca Gargano, Velier's president and considered one of the world's leading experts in rum, met the skill of the photographers from Magnum Photos - a world-renowned agency founded in 1947 by photography legends like Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Bresson and bringing together some of the world's best photographers.
The idea comes from Luca Gargano, one of the first to use photographs on rum labels, including ones he took on his trips around the world. A partnership founded on the values shared by the representatives of both worlds – the art of rum and the art of photography. Those values include the pursuit of excellence, as both Magnum photographers and Velier carefully select the best talents and the finest ingredients. They also share a love for craftsmanship, meaning a desire to stress the importance of the expertise and know-how of the artists involved in the creative process. An artistic approach is a common element to both photography and distillation, since creativity and passion play a key role in both processes.
All this results in a superior rum selection, further enhanced by the works of famous Magnum photographers - a unique blend of art and spirit.
The photographers
The first edition of the Magnum Series features pictures by Elliott Erwitt, a photographer who made the history of Magnum. He joined the agency in 1953 and served as president for three years while working as a freelancer for some of the most iconic publications of the golden age of illustrated magazines like Collier's, Look, LIFE, Holiday and others. His elegant black-and-white shots are not without refined humor as well as an obvious human sensibility.
The second edition is a tribute to the work of American photographer Alex Webb, who has been part of the agency since 1979. Alex studied History and Literature at Harvard and Photography at the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts. His photographs have appeared in publications like GEO, Time, Life, National Geographic, The New York Times as well as in a number of photography books. He is known for using vibrant colors to capture iconic moments, often in regions affected by social and political unrest spanning from Latin America to Africa and from the United States to Europe.
The choice of distilleries
All of the Magnum series editions are designed to offer a range of excellent rums, now considered on a par with the finest Single Malt Whiskies. It's thanks to this search and exploration effort that over the years Velier has become one of the key global players in rum, its bottlings even contributing to the birth of rum collecting.
The selection of the best rum expressions for this absolutely unique series is the result of Velier's extensive search and exploration efforts, which can be compared to a photographic agency selecting its artists.
Just as with artistic selections, the Magnum Series includes the finest distillers who practice the same art, but express it with a different sensibility each time.
The rums selected for the first edition featuring Elliott Erwitt's shots come from the oldest and most distinguished distilleries in Jamaica, Martinique and Barbados. Hampden dates back to 1753 and still uses ancestral production methods, with very long fermentations and distillation in discontinuous double retort copper stills. Founded in 1765, Saint James is the oldest and largest distillery in Martinique as well as a key part of the country's heritage. Mount Gay rum is one of the oldest in the world - officially created in 1703 in Barbados, the birthplace of rum, it probably dates back to as early as 1663. The first edition is topped off by Foursquare, one of the newest and most interesting distilleries in the Caribbean.
The second edition, graced by Alex Webb's photographs, also includes Beenleigh, founded in 1884 and today Australia's most important distillery, and the historical Jamaican producer Clarendon, founded in 1780 and part of National Rums of Jamaica.
Each bottle is a single-vintage Pure Single Rum, exclusively tropical aged and bottled at cask strength.
