Venezuelan Rum Brands Win Gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition

Venezuelan rum brands Ron Carúpano and Ron Calazan celebrate that their distillates were awarded in the most recent edition of the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, one of the most important and long-standing spirits tournaments in the world. Their rums proudly bear the Denomination of Controlled Origin, “Ron de Venezuela.”

The demanding evaluation process of these contests, which are made up of a panel of experts from different areas of the spirits industry, was divided into three main stages that include blind tasting, individual evaluation of each distillate, and deliberation.

Ron Carúpano became the best-awarded rum in the world in its category as it received two Double Gold medals in its category. Ron Carúpano 18 Reserva Limitada and Ron Carúpano 21 Reserva Privada were the references for the brand at the prestigious competition. Faced with more than 45 products from 13 participating countries in the Extra-Aged Rum – 5 Years and Older category, they brought two new recognitions for Venezuelan rum.

Ron Carúpano Reserva Limitada 18 is an ultra-premium dark blended rum made from a mixture of rums that have matured on average for up to 18 years. The mixture is filled into white American oak barrels, where it is matured for several weeks. It is bottled at 40% ABV. In addition, Ron Carúpano 21 Reserva Privada is also an aged rum, matured at length in sealed white American oak barrels with special reserves of up to 21 years of aging and bottled at 40% ABV.

With these new recognitions, Ron Carúpano adds over 60 awards for Venezuelan rum. To date, it has been present in thirty countries, thus consolidating the brand’s recognition outside Venezuela’s borders. Over the years, the brand has become more selective in terms of which contests it participates in. Today, its focus is to win over the most demanding palates of its final consumers.

In the case of Ron Calazan, two of its expressions were distinguished with the Double Gold Medal. The two winning distillates were Calazan Añejo and Calazan Reserva, also recognized a few weeks ago by the Wine & Spirits Tasting Competition 2023, where they won the Silver and Double Gold medals, respectively.

Calazan Añejo is a rum with mixtures of light and medium-heavy alcohols, aged for four years in American white oak barrels. It has soft nuts, honey, and plum aromas, all combined with delicate wood notes. On the other hand, Calazan Reserva is born from mixtures of heavy and semi-heavy alcohols, also aged for ten years in American white oak barrels. It has sweet notes of caramel and toasted wood, combined with ripe red fruits that evoke cherries in harmony with subtle hints of chocolate.

Ron Calazan celebrates these distinctions as further endorsements of the high quality and exquisite flavor that distinguish the company’s products. The brand expects to continue growing and evolving. At the end of 2022, the brand launched its two super-premium distillates in the ultra-aged category, Double Cask and Reserva Exclusiva, which also served as the impetus to refresh the rest of the portfolio. Currently, the company has a production capacity of over 40,000 oak barrels for aged rum.