La Hechicera Rum: A Masterful Blend of Fine Rums
La Hechicera is a Colombian rum made from fine spirits that have been aged gracefully in old bourbon barrels. The classic Hispanic-style rum is one of the best brands on the Colombian market today. This is made with local and fresh ingredients.
The environment in which La Hechicera rums are aged is decisive. This rum is produced at Casa Santana Ron y Licores’ facilities, located in the free zone of Barranquilla, in a Caribbean microclimate that is felt strongly when you walk inside.
The brand seeks to differentiate itself from other rums by experimenting with different raw materials. To achieve this, they use 100% Colombian products. The tafia, the raw material for La Hechicera, arrives distilled from sugar mills in the Valle del Cauca. Moreover, they do not use any sugar or additives in their spirits.
By law, in the United States, bourbon barrels are only used once. These are polished and charred inside for their second use by businesses like Casa Santana. For the aging of La Hechicera, the barrels have been used a maximum of four times, with the renewal described between each use to reactivate the congeners and tannins of the wood. Today, the brand has more than 3,500 barrels and three cellars, as its production has grown a lot in its decade-long history.
Its aging method is solera. They take a part of a barrel with a certain age and mix it with another of a different age to extract the batches, with the permanent guidance of their Maestro Ronero, supported by a tasting team for quality control and standardization, in addition to certain technological aids for greater precision.
At La Hechicera, they have a range with a minimum and maximum age to make the blends. They do not use a barrel that is less than 12 years old and can go up to 25. The Maestro Ronero takes part in the 18-year-old barrel with another 12-year-old, for example, and he begins to explore the mixture until he reaches the point where, due to his professional expertise in nose, sight, and flavor, he feels that it is the right one.
Here are some of the expressions produced by this brand:
La Hechicera Reserva Familiar
The Reserva Familiar has 40% ABV, is dark caramel or amber in color, and has a body that can be seen in the tears it leaves in the glass. It is a perfectly aged rum that is as crisp as it is smooth. The nose offers aromas of coffee, caramel, and red fruits, as well as some vanilla from the barrel. On the palate, it is friendly and unctuous, with a hint of black pepper, especially at the first sip, which softens in the following swallows, in which tobacco, leather, vanilla, and caramel are also discovered.
Also, when La Hechicera Reserva Familiar was set up, first abroad and then in Colombia, the people who made it started what they call the “Experimental Series.” The experimental series is made up of batches of about 7,500 bottles that will be sold abroad as there is not enough volume for the Colombian market.
The Muscat Experiment
The Muscat Experiment was aged beautifully in white oak casks that were filled to the top with the best Muscat wine and then bottled at 43% ABV. This experiment came about by chance when some Muscat wine barrels that had been sitting around for a while were brought together.
They decided to empty them and use them to age the rum, based on the Reserva Familiar, to which, on this occasion, nine months were added in a barrel that, instead of having bourbon, had muscatel. After aging in the constant heat of Barranquilla, they were able to make a great wine with notes of walnut, prunes, and leather.
The Banana Experiment
La Hechicera rum is carefully aged in white oak barrels, then mixed with a lot of organic banana flesh and bottled at 41% alcohol by volume. They put sun-dried bananas in rum that had been aged for a long time. This brought out the flavor of the bananas without changing the taste of the rum.
La Hechicera, launched in 2012, embraces the rum tradition of more than two decades of the Riascos family and their company, Casa Santana Ron y Licores. The barrels that contain it and the cellars that house them are in Barranquilla, just 800 meters from the Magdalena River and very close to the Caribbean Sea. They are second-use white oak barrels (ex Jack’s Daniels) that age the distillate under the baton of Cuban master rum maker Giraldo Mituoka Kagana.
This premium rum has opened a new page in the history of the country’s distillates. Today, the brand has more than 15 recognitions at international events. In 2015, for instance, it obtained a double gold medal in the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Also in 2022, it was awarded a gold medal in the London Spirits Competition. It is for sale in Colombia and several other countries.
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