Flor de Caña rum tour

March 23, 2016

A short bus ride from Leon is the factory for Flor de Caña rum, widely popular in Nicaragua, and despite being able to buy a fifth of it for just $7, it has won multiple international awards.  I decided to journey to the factory and take the tour.

We started by hearing just a little about the process of making rum, which starts from sugar cane, where Flor de Caña gets its name.  The train was originally used for transport of materials, way back when.

Also our guide was awesome, but I don't remember his name.

We watched a short film that outlined a little history of the company.  It started in 1937 with the cane workers celebrating after a successful harvest, and then they noticed that people really liked the rum.  From there it evolved to being sold, then sold throughout the country, Central America, and now it can be found in the US, Canada, Spain, and 37 other countries I don't remember.

We were in a theater originally used for worker entertainment, and this is the original projector from 1966

Also the fan was sweet

From there we went to where it's aged

They use Jack Daniels white oak barrels, sent over from the States in pieces. They reassemble the barrels, which are held together only by the six metal straps, there are no nails or screws anywhere. They are used for 1 year making whiskey, and up to 25 aging rum.

The barrels give flavor and color to the rum.  In the case of their extra light rum, the color has to be filtered out so the liquor ends up clear.

We had a rum tasting in an area where we weren't allowed to take pictures. I've decided that straight rum is kinda like straight whiskey and not quite my thing.  Or at least when its a smokey unsweetened rum. They had us pour a little on our hands and rub it around.  Of course then we smelled like we washed our hands in alcohol (go figure), but the point was they weren't sticky afterwards.  The rum is distilled up to 5 times to remove all traces of sugar, and its effective.

Next up was the warehouse where the aging is done.  It still opens with this key.

Inside was a heady rum smell, and stacks of barrels in the cold dark room.  There is no electricity for fear of a spark starting a fire.  We saw barrels from the last couple years, from the early 2000s, and even earlier.  The oldest I noted had been sitting since 1982.

I wish I had taken this picture with me standing in front of the doors, it would have been sweet. You can Photoshop me with your mind.

It was a pretty fascinating tour, and fun to see the places where it's actually made and stored. And I have an excellent smokey rum recommendation now, if anyone asks.