59: The Rumcast Guide to Mexican Rum: Aguardiente de Caña, Charanda, and the Landscape of Sugarcane Spirits
In this episode, we're continuing what we started with The Rumcast Guide to Jamaican Rum by hopping over to a typically less familiar locale when it comes to sugarcane spirits: Mexico.
Mexico has a relatively unique rum landscape that includes everything from small, family-run farm-to-bottle operations that have been producing fresh sugarcane juice-based spirits for generations, to larger scale operations producing rum more closely aligned with typical mass market products found throughout Latin America. There are way too many distilleries to discuss in one episode, so rather than attempting to be comprehensive, we chose to focus on the two Mexican rum styles that most interest us right now: aguardiente de caña and Charanda.
After discussing some background on both rum styles—including a look at the Charanda Denomination of Origin—we dive into the following brands and distilleries:
Uruapan Charanda
Sol Tarasco Charanda
El Tarasco Charanda
Gustoso Mexican Rum
Paranubes
Dakabend
Tso'ok
Camazotz
Cañada
Ron Aconte
As noted during the episode, we are keeping a running list of all known Mexican rum producers (including the many not covered during this episode) on this page. Scroll below to explore it.
For more information on Paranubes and Mexican rum, check out Episode 24, featuring our interview with Francisco Terrazas of Paranubes.
For a deeper look at the distillery behind Uruapan Charanda, check out this virtual distillery tour.
P.S. Did you know you can support The Rumcast on Patreon now and get bonus episodes, happy hours, and more? You can! Head to patreon.com/therumcast to check it out.
The Mexican Rum List
Below, you’ll find links / information on all Mexican rums we’ve found. If you see something missing, please email us at host@rumcast.com.
El Destilado (a UK independent bottler) released a bottling sourced from this distillery as well, which The Rum Barrel Blog reviewed)
Delfino Cruz (not a brand, but a distiller in the Mexican state of Puebla - El Destilado also sourced an aguardiente de panela (panela is an unrefined cane sugar, similar to piloncillo) from him that was reviewed on The Lone Caner)
Casa Tarasco Spirits (makers of Uruapan Charanda, Sol Tarasco Charanda, and El Tarasco Charanda)
Licores Veracruz (makers of Ron Mocambo, Ron Villa Rica, Ron Los Valientes, and Ron Gran Peñuela)
Xcalak Rum, made by Mango Moonshining in Xcalak, a small town in Quintana Roo.
Ron Caribe (there appears to be no official website, but you can learn more about the brand and its rums in a pair of reviews from The Lone Caner):
Hacienda Corralejo (makers of El Ron Prohibido)
Destileria Espiritus del Norte (makers of Pixan Rum - there appears to be no website, but more information can be found in the following reviews):
Bacardí (precise information on Bacardí’s Mexican operations is tough to come by, but Difford’s Guide has a roundup of a few of their releases that were produced in Mexico)
