43 or Cuarenta y Tres?

Have you travelled from Cartagena to San Javier/La Manga on the CT 32 and seen the orange, yellow, green and red striped building and wondered what it is?

Its the 43 factory.  43, Cuarenta y Tres  is a Spanish liquor made from 43 ingredients produced exclusively in Cartagena .  The exact ingredients is a closely guarded family secret but it includes oranges, lemons, vanilla and herbs.  The stripes on the factory building represent the ingredients.  At the entrance the red stripes represent the red in the Spanish flag.

The factory offers tours for large and small groups of people and is an excellent day out.   The tour includes sampling 43 with coffee as a welcome drink, learning about the history of the drink and how and where it is produced and finally some cocktails sampling.  The tour costs 10 euros including drinks and 7 euros excluding drinks.

43 can be drunk neat, over ice, with tonic or orange juice or used as a base for a variety of cocktails – beware its 33% proof.  The Clover are thinking of adding a 43 to their cocktail list so watch out for it in the summer.    The miniature beer in the picture above is actually 43 served extremely cold with cream on top.

For more information about the tour follow the link below to Murcia Today http://murciatoday.com/experience-43-a-fascinating-half_day-guided-tour-to-the-licor-43-factory-and-museum-cartagena_20840-a.html#.VKwdVmyuIl5.mailto

The factory is close to Cartagena so could be combined with a trip into Cartagena, the port or the centre with its lovely tapas bars and restaurants or a trip to the Mediterraneo Espacio Shopping Centre for a bit of retail therapy.  A mini bus took us to the factory, we paid 15 euros for a taxi for 4 to get from the Factory to the Espacio Centre (the factories tour guide arranged the taxis for us) and arranged for the bus to pick us up at the Espacio Centre.  Great day out!