Panama Rum Tour:

Pesé is located in a beautiful valley and maintains the essence of a traditional town of the Azuero Peninsula with friendly, hard-working people. The exact origins of Pesé are unknown, but it is generally assumed that the town was founded in colonial times. The fertile soil around Pesé at the foothills of the Herrera highlands is excellent for the cultivation of sugercane.

Varela Hermanos was founded in 1908 by the young Spanish emigrant Don José Varela Blanco as the first sugar refinery of the recently founded Republic of Panama, Hacienda San Isidro. The fertile soil around Pesé with sugercane as main crop offered Don José excellent conditions for his new business. In 1936, by request of his three eldest sons, Don José started with the destillation of sugercane juice and the production of different liquors of extraordinary quality. Since then, Varela Hermanos has become the leader in Panama’s liquor industry producing more than one million cases of rum, gin and seco from approximately 50,000 tons of sugercane. From January to May, sugercane is harvested – most of it still by machete – and then ground, fermented and destilled in order to produce the prime liquors.

The company’s flagship product is Ron Abuelo – a prime rum which is not only sold in Panama, but exported in more then 20 countries worldwide. The rum is aged 5, 7, 12 or 30 years (Centuria Rum) in barrels of American white oak which are imported with one use from a bourbon producing company in the US.