6 Rum Brands You Need To Know Now, And The People Behind Them

Premium rums are having their day in the limelight, and with good reason. From established brands to audacious newcomers in unexpected places, rum is certainly seeing a renaissance. These six brands are not only breaking the mold of what is possible to do with rum, but also where to do it, and they are doing it with a positive environmental and social impact.

Lorena Vásquez, master blender

Zacapa Rum

One of the few female master blenders in the world, Lorena Vasquez is the woman behind Zacapa rum. Handcrafted in Guatemala, Zacapa is produced using only virgin sugar cane honey. The process is guided and repeated under her critical eye to reach the maturity and complexity of flavors that shape the ultra-premium rum.

“What I love about my role is that it is all about the creation and blending of aromas and flavors obtained from the rum making process,” says Vásquez. “Rum making in Guatemala is special due to the specific raw material, the climate conditions and solera system that is part of a Guatemala Denomination of origin regulation. It is unique compared to other rums in the world.”

Not only does Vásquez bring her knowledge of rum to create an exceptional product, but she also brings her Guatemalan roots and vibrant personality to everything she does, influencing the spirit and convivial nature of the brand while inspiring other young women to enter the world of spirits.

In addition, Zacapa supports the community by employing over 700 female weavers to craft the signature petate adorning every bottle. When women can learn and participate in dignified, safe work, they can support themselves and reinvest their earnings back into their families and communities. “I am inspired by the group of artisans’ women involved in the petate weaving,” says Vásquez. “I am proud to have included a piece made by women from different communities that link to our pre-Hispanic culture.”

Paola Medina, master blender

Dos Maderas Rum

A native of Sevilla, Paola has been working at the Williams & Humbert Bodegas in various capacities since 2010. In 2012 she joined full-time as technical director, winemaker and master blender, where she is responsible for everything from harvest and winemaking to selecting raw materials and overseeing the 60,000 casks ageing in the bodega’s cellars.

She belongs to the second generation of the Medina family, who have owned and operated Bodegas Williams & Humbert since the 1990s. She worked to launch the Dos Maderas brand with the goal of bringing the worlds of rum and sherry together as a singular expression. Aging spirits in sherry casks is not a new concept, but it did not have a ton of representation in the world of sugarcane spirits, like rum. Translating as two woods, Dos Maderas is a nod to the initial aging of Caribbean rum with bourbon casks followed by the final aging in rare old Sherry casks.

Medina is quite passionate about exploring the versatility of aged rums with the nuance of sherry and has adapted the famed solera system of aging used to blend sherry into the process of maturing rums, to make her lasting mark in the evolving category.

“I try to infuse to our Dos Maderas rum all the wealth of knowledge and experience gained by Williams & Humbert for almost 150 years making Sherry and Brandy de Jerez. To work with such complex and historical sherry wines has been a fundamental influence on my work as master blender. We should not forget the enduring and long tradition of the art of blending in the Jerez region.”

Paola was named as one of the 10 most outstanding winemaker in the Spanish wine scene by Decanter Magazine in 2018 and was recently named one of the top 6 leading winemakers in Spain in 2022 by Decanter.

Since its launch, Dos Maderas has partnered to conserve the environment and enacting sustainable efforts in the Caribbean region where their rums are produced. In 2014, Luxus, Dos Maderas’ luxury rum, began a collaboration with ICAPO (the Eastern Pacific Hawksbill Initiative,) an organization that works to safeguard the survival of the Hawksbill turtle, one of the most endangered on the planet. With proceeds from the sales of Luxus, they have since been able to also donate significantly to SOS Nicaragua, another turtle conservation organization.

Aaisha Dadral and Amanda Kamembo

Equiano Rum

In 2019, Aaisha Dadral co-founded Equiano Rum with Oli Bartlam and Amanda Kakembo. Named after Olaudah Equiano, an 18th century writer, abolitionist and entrepreneur, Equiano Rum is the world’s first premium aged African and Caribbean rum.

As a BIPOC-owned, female-led business, the founders wanted to not only create something new for the category but also to reclaim the history of rum. The industry has been slow to recognize that rum and sugarcane are inextricably linked, and it is often lost from the narrative that these crops were often a death sentence for enslaved people in the Caribbean.

As brand and marketing director, Dadral oversees all branding and marketing operations, from the language and tone of voice to the brand and bottle design. Kakembo, the commercial director, oversees the day-to-day operations, managing all legal work, shareholders, investments, funding and company finances. She also oversees all inventory and logistics, managing stock movement, supply, and retail on and off premise.

5% of total company profits $2 of every bottle sold through their website goes towards The Equiano Rum Foundation, their charitable grant dedicated to helping raise awareness of global injustices. The foundation’s first ever 2021 grant recipient is Anti-Slavery International, an organization that works to eliminate all forms of modern slavery.

Nancy Duarte, master blender

Santa Teresa

Santa Teresa is the leading producer of rum in Venezuela with a tradition of five generations of master rum blenders during its 225 years of history.

Born and raised in Venezuela, Nancy Duarte has had a fascinating career path, with 30+ years as a trailblazer in a challenging business environment. She started working at the Hacienda Santa Teresa as a food technician within the distillery’s quality department, climbing the ladder to become the first female master blender in the brand’s history in 2022. Today, she manages the entire process of development and formulation of liquids, as well as innovations in the productive process and new products for the company portfolio.

Among the products in the portfolio, her special favorite is Santa Teresa 1796. This super premium rum is renowned as a pioneer in the use of the artisanal solera method, a blend of light, heavy and pot still rums aged 4 to 35 years overseen by Duarte herself.

“I like Santa Teresa 1796 because it surprises you with its complexity and long-lasting taste on the palate, with its characteristic notes of nuts, chocolate, honey, and leather that can be enjoyed on any occasion”, she says.

Santa Teresa also sponsors Project Alcatraz, a program that recruits criminal gangs, rehabilitates them, and reinserts them into society. It combines vocational training, value formation, psychological assistance, formal education, and rugby, through which values such as respect, discipline, teamwork, sportsmanship, and humility are taught as keys to success in life. To date “Project Alcatraz” has recruited 11 gangs with more than 200 gang members and, since 2013, it has taken the methodology to 34 penitentiary centers in Venezuela.

Paul and Jacine Rutasikwa

Matugga Distillers

Founded in in 2018 in Livingston, Scotland, by husband-and-wife Paul and Jacine Rutasikwa, Mattuga is one of the leaders in the growing Scottish rum industry.

Head distiller and leading craft rum expert, Paul Rutasikwa has led Mattuga into becoming one of the first U.K. distilleries to produce rums distilled from scratch, carving out its own niche as a producer of innovative and experimental rums. Jacine is believed to be the U.K.’s first Black female distillery owner. Their artisanal cask-aged and spiced rums have won multiple international awards, including two Gold medals at the Rum and Cachaça Masters.

“Most rums are aged in tropical countries. However, we have proved right here in Scotland that rum also ages brilliantly in cooler climates,” said Paul, a native of Uganda. “Although it takes a bit longer, the result is as delicious, mature and rounded as anything from the tropics.”

Every bottle is distilled from scratch in Scotland, infused with Scottish, East African and Jamaican botanicals. The rum is produced using a degree of wild fermentation and 100% copper pot distillation.

After producing and selling out of 25,000 bottles by the start of 2022, the couple launched a crowdfunding campaign that invited people to invest in a private cask program titled ‘Pamoja’, translating to ‘Together’ in Paul’s native Swahili. The campaign secured more than £300,000, which will allow them to move forward with their dream of becoming a true cane to cask producer, with plans underway to develop a sugarcane plantation in Uganda.

“We are developing a sugarcane plantation on our family land in Matugga that will employ and train local agricultural workers,” said Paul. “By harvesting cane from our land and converting it into high-quality distilling molasses we will become a ‘cane to cask’ rum producer.”

As well as supporting local economies in Scotland and Uganda, Jacine hopes the business can have a wider impact by providing a positive example to other black entrepreneurs who have ambitions to scale up through investment.

“There are still, sadly, systemic inequalities and individual and institutional biases at play,” she said. “But we’re lucky that since moving to Scotland we’ve encountered a highly supportive community who value our craftsmanship and are as excited about our growth plans as we are.”

Reiniel Vincente Diaz, master distiller

Bayou Rum

Inspired by the rich history, diverse culinary scene, and celebratory nature of Louisiana, Bayou Rum is made with locally grown fresh sugarcane molasses in its craft distillery in Lacassine. Their molasses comes from MA & Patout and Son, the oldest family-owned and operated sugar mill in the United States.

At the helm of the production sits master distiller Reinel Vincente, who is proud of his Cuban descent and with rum in his bloodline. The second-generation rum maker was raised in a city surrounded by sugar cane fields, sugar mills and a rum distillation facility, later helping his father at a Cuban distillery. He joined Bayou Rum in 2013 after years working in rum distilleries in the Dominican Republic.

The portfolio has four expressions: Bayou Spiced, Bayou White, Bayou Reserve, and Bayou Mardi Gras XO. Every batch of Bayou Rum is distilled in copper pot stills, aged mostly in Bourbon casks and bottled in-house.

Of special note is the unique microclimate at the location of the distillery, just east of Lake Charles. As a result, the angel’s share is quite something. The angels gulp down 6%‐7% of the maturing stocks of rum each year, and because it is so humid, the rate of evaporation of water is slightly above that of alcohol. This means that over four or five years, the filling strength of 60% ABV will have risen to around 61.5% ABV‐62% ABV. According to Vicente, this “only happens in a few specific locations, like Louisiana.”