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distilleries
Varela Hermanos
Established as a sugar mill in 1908, the distillery is one of very few that produce Rum from the molasses produced on its own estate. As an eco-friendly distillery, all leftover sugar cane is used to heat the stills.
Run by the third generation of the family, this renowned distillery produces around a million cases of rum a year, controlling around 90% of the local market. While rum is now aged in several regions around the world, the rums masterfully created at Verela Hermanos in Pesé, are uniquely delicious due to the special climate conditions that bless the hacienda, located in a small fertile valley in the Azuero Peninsula.
The moderate rainfall, cool nights, and humid days all play important roles in the development and personality of each Rum. Here, Verela Hermanos controls 100% of the rum-making process: they grow and hand-harvest their own sugar cane, distil their own spirit and age it all at their estate.
The sugar cane is sorted and fed into the milling process for crushing, extraction, juice straining and purification at the distillery, a state-of-the-art facility that merges traditional and modern techniques for the process of distilling spirits. The production process goes from cane juice fermentation along with house-raised yeast to the ageing process inside white oak barrels, striking a perfect balance between technology and tradition.
Recognising that burning sugar cane fields before harvest is detrimental to the quality of the product, Varela Hermanos is one of the few distilleries that still prepare their fields by hand, providing much-needed employment in the local community.
