Worldwide, the Venezuelan rums go under the name of “Diplomatico”, but in Germany, the same rum is called “Botucal“. Why so? 7 years ago, the ALDI discount supermarket chain sued Industria Licorera Quezalteca SA, the producer of Diplomatico, as ALDI held the rights to the brand of Diplomat brandy for years. The similarity between the names was claimed to confuse consumers. Customers buying a bottle of cheap brandy for EUR 5.99 might accidentally end up buying a quality rum for approx. EUR 35 🙂
Diplomatico stood before the court twice with ALDI but then they calculated it would be cheaper to just sell the product under a different name in Germany. Since March 2012, Diplomatico re-named their products for Germany and since then they go under Botucal. The name Botucal comes from the area where sugar cane is grown, Botuka, meaning green hill.
There thus is no difference in taste, just in the label, bottle and tube. The bottle, be it a Botucal or Diplomatico bottle, contains the same product.
