Paranubes
Artisanal, Wild Fermented White Rum from the Oaxacan Mountains of Mexico
Like many families in this high-altitude “cloud forest”—about six hours behind the wheel from Oaxaca City—Jose Luis Carrera and his forebears have been growing sugar cane and distilling their own Rum in their little traipse for generations. Until recently, this rural Mexican Agricole—locally called Aguardiente de Caña—was seldom seen outside the village where it was produced. Indeed, Paranubes Rum is one of the first Rums from Oaxaca to appear in the world’s finest bars.
It’s a silky, round and wonderfully complex rum, combining the funk and flavour of a top Rhum Agricole with an earthy, bucolic sense of place. In spite of its flavour punch, it’s a brilliant mixing rum and, one thing is for sure—our daiquiris at Bibendum Bar will never be the same again...
Carrera grows four kinds of organic sugarcane in the forested hills of Huautepec province—Tipica, Negra, Dura and Criollo—each of which is used to make Paranubes. The cane is transported out by donkey and then driven to the distillery where the freshly pressed cane juice is fermented naturally in 1,100-litre pine vats. No water or cultivated yeasts are added; instead, a boiled bark mixture from native mesquite is used to kick-start fermentation—literally the only additive in the entire process. The fermented liquid is then transferred to a rustic, six-plate copper column still that’s heated over a fire made from used cane fibre.
What really sets Carrera’s Rum apart from its cane Rum contemporaries—Rhum Agricole and Cachaça—and his neighbours, is the use of a rolling fermentation, which adds layers of funk and complexity. Carrera’s vessels still only hold about 550 litres of liquid at a time, so instead of filling, emptying and refilling the fermentation vats every day as many producers do, Carrera takes only half the must out of the vat every morning for distillation. What this means is the vats are a mix of very old and very young fermenting liquids, since they are only entirely emptied three times a year. To taste, it’s silky, round and wonderfully complex, combining the funk and flavour of a top Rhum Agricole with elegance and a truffle-like finish.
Country
Mexico
“In a simple Daiquiri, the rum shines with personality. On its own, the spirit yields aromas of mint and ripe apricot, and the flavor bursts with fresh cane juice, a rich, silky texture, and a sweetness akin to confectioner’s sugar. The rum’s funky character lands somewhere between the grassiness of a cachaça and the ruggedness of rhum agricole. But while it bears resemblances to both, Paranubes is in a category all its own—a clear expression of the place where it originates.” Imbibe Magazine