The Tale of The Secret Village

Tucked away in the tropical woodlands of Portuguese Goa lay a village famed for its rum. A rum, as legend has it, that was part of the most valuable treasure in history. Segredo Aldeia is a retelling of this famous rum, recreated at a place not far from where its story was birthed.

Distilled by men of the sea, who knew rum like they knew the waves, in a village shrouded in secrecy. 

 

In April of 1721, Levasseur had just plundered the largest treasure in the history of the world. 

Off the coast of Réunion, the French pirate seized control of the ‘Nossa Senhora do Cabo’- The Bishop of Goa’s ship. The treasure on the ship, valued at over a billion dollars comprised jewels, gold, & religious artefacts from the Se Cathedral in Goa including The Flaming Cross of Goa - made of solid gold & a diamond, ruby, and emerald inlay. An artefact so hefty, the cross took 3 men to lift. Along with these lay barrels of rum, distilled in a village whose existence was known to a few & its name known to none. A few knots upstream along the banks of the Mandovi river lay this secret village or ‘Segredo Aldeia’, as it was called at the time. A haven for people with disreputable pasts, they spent their days making rum & nights revelling in it. 

 

Drawing from the rich & diverse history of Goa - Segredo Aldeia (Portuguese for secret village) is the rebirth of the rum that was considered to be a treasure itself.