Rum tradition in Venezuela dates back from the times of Spanish colonial Maracaibo. Settlers introduced sugar cane in their country after being cultivated in the Antilles. From that moment on, the production process began to be carried out as in the other rum-manufacturing countries. Though sugar plantation here did not have the significance of those located at the Antilles.

Cacique, The sweetest sugar cane The name of “Cacique” is an hommage to the chieves of the indians tribus who fought against the colonial invasion in defense of the culture and identity of their people. The fabrication starts choosing the sugar cane. From 1939, the date of the foundation of the company in Hacienda Soruro in Venezuela, they use the cane of the plantation and the waters of a source of their own. From the cane they choose the sweetest part of the cane, called “honey”. Sugar-cane distillation is made in cooper stills, similar to those used for high-quality scotch whiskies. The central part of the cane, “the heart,” is used as the most selected and balance liquid for the following step. Cacique is the product of a combination of light rums of high pureness and heavy rums, very tasty, aged until reaching a very optimal condition. Light rums are manufactured in a kind of column distillation in copper stills and the heavy ones in pans. The alcohol, never less than 40 degrees, absorbs the oak smell from the barrels providing a deep golden shade and a singular taste. The different varieties of rums by the brand Cacique are aged from three to six years. The most selected Cacique rums receive a special treatment. The aged Cacique is manufactured with six-years aged rums and aged 500 Cacique rum combines seven-aged rums of natural distillation aged up to eight years, thus obtaining the standard bouquet that characterizes the company. The whole rum-bottling process is made in the very La Miel distillery at Lara estate to ensure the quality of the product and the preservation of its personality.

Pampero, the aged rum in Venezuela by antonomasia. The Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Hernández who turned it into one of the most important enterprises of Venezuela founded Industrias Pampero. Hernández combines the old technique and the traditional artisan way of making rum with the modern technology of manufacturing high-quality golden rums. Today Pampero is universally recognized after more than fifty years of its birth. One of the keys that made possible the success attained by Pampero brand was the first effort made by Hernández to consolidate the concept of “Aged Rum”. The size of its aging warehouses are considered among the largest of the world located at Ocumare, in the hills at the south of Caracas, in the very site where Hernández began his works. This place has been the most proper one for it has been discovered that tropical weather is the ideal one for the aging process. There are 300,000 rum barrels, each one aging for at least two years at the shortest term. This is the minimum legal term set by the rigorous standards of the Venezuelan government to describe it as national aged rum. Pampero rums are manufactured with an exquisite mixture of seven-years aged rums, but the most selected label is that of Pampero Aniversario, one of the oldest rum of the world for it is aged for 18 years in oak barrels. It is sold in a small bottle in a cloth sack.