The Magnum series is back

From a bottle of champagne to a rum series is no short step, but it's not as long as the seventy-plus-year distance between them might suggest.

There is a consistent leitmotif connecting Magnum Photos and Velier, with the latter soon to release the second edition of the Magnum bottling series created in cooperation with the agency's photo artists.

The project was created in 2021 by Velier's president Luca Gargano, who saw an opportunity to bring together two of his many passions - rum and photography. Gargano

had been one of the first to use shots taken during his countless trips to the Caribbean on his labels, but now he needed to take the idea to the next level. After bringing rum to the Olympus of spirits as it deserves, with selections achieving auction prices rivaling the best Scottish single malts, Gargano was faced with the next challenge, as La Maison & Velier managing director Francesco Signa explains: "To create a series that would bring rum closer to the concept of aesthetic and artistic excellence it deserves."

Today, collaborations between spirit brands and the art world are nothing new. There's a long list of them, from Toulouse-Lautrec at the end of the nineteenth century to Alfons Mucha's Art Nouveau and from Fortunato Depero for Campari to the union between Absolut vodka and Andy Warhol's and Keith Haring's Pop Art.

In photography, the most celebrated precedent is the "Masters of Photography" series released by Macallan in 2008 in collaboration with the Magnum agency. And that's where Luca Gargano found a connection. Behind which lies a whole world of analogies.

Let's take a step back almost seventy years to the MoMa restaurant, New York, when after lunch on May 22, 1947, guests ordered a bottle of champagne to toast the founding of what will eventually become the most influential photo agency of the post-war period - Magnum Photos -

by some of the world's most talented photographers including Robert Capa, David Seymour and Henri Cartier-Bresson, who will earn the nickname "the eye of the century." His approach to photography is Cartesian: "Align your head, eyes and heart."

Replace "eyes" with "palate" and it's the same rule that has always guided Luca Gargano's cask selections.

But the similarities don't stop there. There are many more reasons Magnum is unique in the art scene. For example, it's the first photographic cooperative to retain ownership of negatives just as Gargano likes to do with Caribbean distilleries, which are not exploited for predatory purposes but promoted with bottlings placing people at the center - the craftsmen producing and aging those spirits. Artisans, artists and farmers - the Triple A motto.

Moreover, Magnum's goal has always been to showcase the photographer's creativity. Not just reporters sent to the theater of events, but true artists traveling the planet to find the perfect shot. Unsurprisingly, joining the agency is anything but simple. Members meet once a year to screen applications and only the very best are admitted.

Likewise skill, touch and experience are all qualities that distillers cultivate for years. At Velier, being an independent bottler means simply recognizing that talent and letting it express itself freely.

In sum, there are many deep reasons behind this partnership besides the agency’s name which make the Magnum series a very well-founded philosophical project, as opposed to the trivial art washing favored by some modern brands.

But, more specifically, how does the second edition embody this union?

If the photographer chosen for the first edition was the celebrated Elliott Erwitt, who passed in 2023, the labels of the second edition feature shots by Alex Webb. An American national who joined Magnum in 1979, Webb is a globetrotter who more than anyone else was able to portray the kaleidoscopic complexity of the Caribbean, with pictures rich in insight, characters, details and nuances.

Velier decided to combine his perspective with four very different rums, both in terms of style and provenance. Most are bottled at 60% ABV except one bottled at 45% ABV, and all are from distilleries with a long history and a distinctive identity and style.

Beenleigh 8 yo

The first rum comes from Queensland, more specifically from the oldest distillery in Australia, founded in 1884 on the East coast just south of Brisbane. The molasses is first distilled in column stills and then in copper pot stills. The ex-bourbon barrels age in two different warehouses. This one in particular was aged inland, in more extreme climatic conditions.

The nose is exceptionally fragrant, with great finesse of aromas reminiscent of some French wine spirits. Dried fruit, apricots and a hint of wildflower honey give way to a mouth with notes of plum, spicy jam and a variation of mango and citrus fruits. The finish is balsamic and very fresh, with pleasantly bitter accents for this unconventional rum.

Clarendon 10 yo 

Founded in 1780, the Clarendon/Monymusk distillery is located on the southern coast of Jamaica and uses both double retort and column stills. The cask selected for the second edition is part of the MBS mark, one of the "lightest" in terms of esters (between 10 and 60 grams per 100 liters) distilled in a triple column still.

The first impact is of a polite, balanced Jamaican rum with the inevitable tropical fruit rich in floral, almost medicinal nuances, with even of touch of umami from dried fruit and more. The mouth is full and very flavorful, with dried candied fruit mixed with salty licorice and hints of wood, salted peanuts and citrus fruits. The finish is enveloping and long, with an almost herbaceous and tobacco-like astringency that makes the sip truly epic.

Saint James 12 yo

The only agricultural rum in the release comes from Martinique's largest and oldest distillery, the historic Saint James founded in 1765. This rum is distilled in a Creole column still from a blend of two vintages, 2003 and 2010.

Compared to the previous two, it has a more clearly perceivable sweet, deep dimension - caramel, sweet tobacco as well as pralines and hints of wood and tonka beans. The mouth brings out the herbaceous soul of agricultural rum, with a play of spices and herbal teas enhanced with milk chocolate and raisins, with notes of red fruit. The sugar cane - and a bit of coffee - show up in the finish, which is chewy and very long.

Hampden 13 yo

Capping off the series is His Majesty Hampden, the iconic distillery founded in Trelawny in 1753 and today a Mecca for lovers of high-ester Jamaican rum. This particular rum however is part of the LROK mark, a light rum (200-400 grams per 100 liters). It's one of the oldest Hampden rums ever released.

Here, Hampden's distinctive funky nose is finer and more polite, with pineapple paired with honey, flowers and banana with a delightful hint of farmhouse and salami skin. As always, the mouth is incredibly full with great body. Chocolate and licorice mix with exotic fruit in a crescendo that culminates in a fruity, sweet and persistent finish.