Cristina Quintana, the only woman liquor maker in Menorca

“I have always been very curious, and I think this has influenced being able to create new products, as well as improve the ones we have”

Itziar Lecea / Photos: Cristina Quintana– Cristina Quintana’s story is closely linked to that of her family. More specifically, the one that her grandparents and her father wrote, and that she wanted to continue despite the difficulties. After a few hard years due to Covid, the only woman liquor maker in Menorca continues to make what she likes most: artisanal liquor made on the island. With it we discover the three brands that represent it, Biniarbolla, Glop and Innat.

Innat, Glop, Biniarbolla… it all started when, exactly?
We must go back very far to know when this whole project began. We must go back to the grandmother, Margarita Seguí, and the grandfather, Pepe Quintana, who had a farm in Enzell, at the foot of El Toro. He, who was a shoemaker, did smuggling during the war, like many other people. They had a friendship with Romualdo, who was a priest, a bit of a shaman, who lived in the monastery of El Toro. Romualdo made infusions as remedies, with an alcohol base, which was supplied by his grandfather, and which entered through the Binissaida des Barrancons farm. That’s how, when Romualdo retired, her grandmother kept her recipes and continued making the liqueurs. Especially the mandarin liqueur, which was very popular.

Years later, when my father had to close his shoe company, he decided to follow the path started by his grandparents, thanks in part to the fruit trees on the Biniarbolla farm that my brother ran, in the Rellotge ravine. This was towards the end of the 80s. Thus, the first mandarin liqueur he made was with mandarins from the Biniarbolla orchard, following the traditional recipe that Romualdo’s grandmother had been able to preserve. And it’s the same recipe we make now.

When do you join the company?
In 2014, when my father retired. Upon entering, we opted for gins, which I have always liked, and which were beginning to have a good echo due to the rise of the world of cocktails. In this way Glop and Innat were born. In 2017 I won the regional award for best gin in the Balearic Islands. At first it was compared a lot to Gin Xoriguer, although it is completely different, because it is a premium gin. At the end of 2019 I released pink gin, because they asked me for it a lot. But in 2020 everything changed.

In what sense?
With the arrival of Covid I had to close the company and stop making both the gin and the herbs, which we made in the traditional way, with the usual recipe. I found myself in the situation of having to sell the brands to be able to start the business again and keep my grandmother’s recipes. That’s why now we make the mandarin herbs, and others, and we also make the three gins. With this change, and with the new owner’s approval to return to making herbal liqueurs the traditional way, he told me that he would like to do it with the product of a friend who has an organic farming farm. The surprise was that it was the same Binissaida farm through which the grandfather brought in the alcohol during the 20th century and where the grandmother made the herbs from it. This way we can label our liquors as made with herbs from the Es Barrancó de Binissaida garden. Thus we close the cycle that began with my grandmother and that I have been able to continue, despite the difficulties that have arisen in the last three years, since the pandemic.

Do you have the feeling of closing a cycle, returning to the origins?
For me it has been like honoring the history of the company and the origins, which were my grandmother and my father. I think if I had tried to do it that way, it wouldn’t have turned out so well. But I’m very happy.

What was the transition like from having your own business to having to work for others?
When I met the current owner, we suddenly understood each other very well, because we ran away from what is the industry trend: to automate more and more. And we go the other way: we go towards the artisanal process, which gives a character to the product that is also noticeable in the quality. I think this artisanal and traditional way of doing processes should be recovered.

Is the traditional nature of the process noticeable in the liquor sector on the Islands?
I can say how we are one of the few women in the Balearic Islands who has the title of artisan liquor maker and the only one from Menorca. And in a couple of years I will be able to become a master liquor maker. It is a process that takes time, but I think that people value artisanal products more and more, and also understand that it is much better to be able to consume products from the land and not depend so much on globalization.