Journalist and Visionary Woman 2024 (Women Leading Rum): ADRIANA GIBBS

TRL: Who is Adriana Gibbs?

My vocation combines a taste for wine and spirits with a passion for learning and communicating. Between 2007 and 2017, I developed the wine, gastronomy and spirits feature in the Estampas magazine of the El Universal newspaper. Added to this is my teaching experience in the Diplomado de Cultura del Vino y Spirits at the Universidad Metropolitana (2011-2024). I currently teach at the Academia de Gastronomía UCAB – Plazas´s.

I love to write. Wine led me to bread and bread to wine, which is why I wrote the book Soy Panadero. It is a tribute to the artisans of bread in Venezuela, which in 2021 won the “Tenedor de Oro como Publicación Gastronómica”, award given by the Academia Venezolana de Gastronomía.

In 2021, Ediciones Punto Paladar was created, a publishing house that I run together with Verónica Gibbs. We have published: 365 days. Uno para cada vino (2021), written by me and designed by Betzy Barragán. It was recognized as Best in the World at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2022 (Digital Wine Book category). Then, Cocteles de Autor. Las mezclas de un barman literario (2022), written by Ángel Gustavo Infante, designed by Marvic Ruiz and with playlists by Torkins Delgado. It was awarded twice at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2023: Best in the World in the Cocktail Book category and second place in the Digital Drinks Book category.

The third book came out in 2023: Catando la luz. Fotografía para wine lovers (2023), written and photographed by Natalia Brand, designed by Betzy Barragán and with playlists by Torkins Delgado. It has been nominated for the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, which will be presented in 2025.

The publishing house has started off on a good note: the fourth book is about rum, which I will talk about later, and the fifth inaugurated the gastronomic collection: Una Vía Láctea llamada Ananké. A journey from A to Z of our goat cheeses, distinguished with a Special Award.

I think life can also be tasted: Parece Otoño (La liebre libre, 1993), De nunca despedirme (Comala.com, 2002) and Doble Viaje  (Oscar Todtmann editores, 2018), are three poetry collections that talk about my personal journeys. I have three certificates of origin: Social Communicator from the Andrés Bello Catholic University (1988); Master in Social Psychology from the Central University of Venezuela (2004); and Diplomas in Wine Culture & Spirits (Beginners and Advanced) from the Metropolitan University (2010).

TRL: What does rum mean to you? What made you fall in love with rum and when did it happen?

I believe in drinks as a cultural expression. Rum is there, assuming it as a cultural fact to preserve. I began to write about rum as a journalist in the magazine Estampas, of the newspaper El Universal. For several years I attended rum tastings, interviewed master rum makers, visited distilleries in the country and in other countries such as Guatemala.

I began to know it more in depth as a teacher in the Diploma in Wine Culture & Spirits at the Universidad Metropolitana. There I began a cycle of meetings with master rum makers since 2012. Cohort by cohort, Luis Figueroa, Carmen López, Tito Cordero, Néstor Ortega, Carlos Méndez, Andrés Contreras, Giorgio Melis, Carlos Luis Pérez and Nancy Duarte were presented. I have a pending task to bring Rosamy Belmonte, Nelson Hernández, José Araujo and Jorge Azuaje to the classroom.

This infatuation grew in me as a reader of books by José Ángel Rodríguez, Carlos Viso, Rosanna Di Turi, Miró Popic, Vladimir Viloria, Giovanna Moldenhauer and Dave Broom, among other authors.

TRL: Three essential characteristics that define rum according to your perspective.

This is how I present it: A drink of character, ideal for affirming, deciding or forgetting, whose flavor has the density of time. In the glass, the passage of life is perceived, that is its destiny. At one time it was accompanied by a qualifier that revealed its age, then the ellipsis allowed it to be called simply aged, as a synonym for the distillate. When it reaches our hands under any climate, the amber reveals the passage of years – we enjoy the present or the past, between joy and nostalgia – or the white diluted in the cocktail invites us to celebrate the variations of light, the force of the sea, the rhythms of the body; in short: the taste for life.

In all the bars of the world it offers the best. Its Spanish, English, French, Cambodian, Indian, Scandinavian, Czech and Japanese versions maintain the nobility while preserving the sweet origin: sugar cane. Rum is a meeting point for all languages ​​and palates.

In La Habana by Severo Sarduy- where daiquiris are drunk at all hours – or in La Guaira by Guillermo Meneses – populated by demanding tasters – it expresses the same sensuality described by Suzanne Dracius in Martinique: ‘A warm smell of caramel and sugar cane alcohol rises from the distillery and challenges her nose. The young woman enjoys that smell. It is the disturbing, mysterious effluvium for her, of rum in the making.’ This is rum, our beloved rum, which we celebrate.

TRL: What is the most important contribution you have made to the rum industry?

The most recent, “Una pasión con nombre propio. Ron de Venezuela 20 años D.O.C.”, a book published in December 2023, written by me, photographed by Eduardo “Lalo” Párraga and designed by Marvic Ruiz and Betzy Barragán. It has both a printed version, which is beautiful, and a digital version. All in co-edition with the Venezuelan Rum Promotion Fund, FONPRONVEN. One value is that the digital book is free.

Made up of six chapters, it is a kind of puzzle in which the different sections communicate especially with each other with different reading rhythms: The beginning, “Memorias de un destilado”, caresses the history of rum in the world and in Venezuela, a story accompanied by different authors, many historians, including José Ángel Rodríguez and Carlos Viso. Then follows “Rastro y rostro de nuestro ron”, the backbone, where the history of the D.O.C. is told, its background; a polyphonic story, with the participation of more than 20 intertwined voices. This chapter also presents the pillars of the D.O.C, a synthesis of the legislation that governs rum in Venezuela, a balance of achievements and challenges. The third chapter, “Maestros roneros en primera persona”, presents the 13 makers behind the 17 Venezuelan rum brands with D.O.C. This is followed by a tour of the 17 brands, grouped by regions, east, center and west and organized alphabetically. The fifth chapter, “Ron, placer y seducción”, invites you to enjoy it in different ways; it is a sort of prelude to what follows, “Rones tras la barra”, a section in which talented cocktail professionals pay tribute to the D.O.C.

TRL: Benefits that the rum industry has given you

Several gifts. Thanks to rum and the book I wrote in 2023, career paths have opened up for me in other countries (Mexico, Spain and the United States are three of them), where I have led tasting-talks. And a gift that has been given to me together with the publishing house that I run with my sister, Verónica Gibbs, is the distinction awarded by the prestigious Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. We have been nominated in the Rum Books category and the awards will be presented in 2025 in Portugal. At Ediciones Punto Paladar, a firm that was founded in 2020, we have published six digital books so far; of these, the rum book is the first that is not only digital but also printed, which has marked a significant start for our next books. I was also invited to participate in a documentary about master rum makers that is being made. I appreciate all of this.

TRL: Any advice for training the palate and savouring a good premium rum?

Cultivate curiosity, explore, train your sense of smell, try what you don’t know, escape from a monothematic palate. This is how you learn and become an educated taster.

TRL: What is your favorite place to drink rum?

I like to enjoy rum in a good bar that offers signature cocktails with this spirit. I remember the cocktails they prepare at Handshake, where I also had the opportunity to teach a session dedicated to Venezuelan rum to their entire team. Whenever I go to Mexico City I visit this charming place.

If I have a craving for a pure rum, served in a balloon glass or short glass, accompanied by a chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa, my memory flies to the glamorous Fifty Mils bar at the Four Seasons hotel in the Mexican capital.

There is a very special place where I usually enjoy a rum and tonic prepared by me: facing the sea.

TRL: Why is it important to educate the rum consumer?

I answer from a place of taste: educating to enjoy it more, knowing what you drink increases the pleasure. Rums are a cultural expression, of roots and a lot of pride in what is ours. A job has been done that must be persevered in.

TRL: Why is the role of the bartender important in the rum industry?

Because it is from pleasure that it drives it and makes it known. Rum is a very special distillate for mixes. There are light rums, made especially for cocktails. There, the rum, while still being the protagonist, gives a chance to other ingredients. There are other more complex ones that allow duality: alone or accompanied. I really appreciate the bartenders and barwomen who play with their richness of flavors: a good cocktail with rum must have a balance of sweet, bitter and citrus notes.

TRL: How can people learn more about you? Website? Social networks?

Wines, spirits and gastronomy coexist on my website: https://www.adrianagibbs.com  and on my Instagram account: @adrianagibbsm. I also invite you to take a look at the publisher’s account: @edicionespuntopaladar.