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Pampero
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
History & Heritage
In 1938, two ambitious, self-made Venezuelans, Luis Toro and Alejandro Hernández, saw that their country’s intense climate and distinctive landscape of mountain, jungle and coast came together to create a set of unique – almost magical – conditions, perfect for making one of their favourite things: rum.
Inspired by the craftsmanship and artisanal skill of local Llaneros (traditional herdsmen who roamed the savannahs and wetlands), they founded their distillery in Caracas and set about creating a rum that embodied the vibrant, intrepid spirit of the Venezuelan people.
Not only did Toro and Hernández create a rum of unparalleled intensity and richness of flavour, they were also true innovators, defining new ways of ageing spirits and setting the standard for rum production in Venezuela for generations to come.
The Making of Pampero
Venezuela sits at the confluence of three contrasting environments: the Caribbean, the Andes and the Amazon. Here, the heat, humidity and pure mountain water combine to grow exceptionally sweet sugarcane. This makes for the richest molasses which in turn produce some of the finest rums in the world.
Unusually for a rum distiller, Pampero uses three types of still - column, kettle batch and copper - to produce its liquids, each triple distilled for purity. This creates a lot of extra work, but produces subtle differences, giving Pampero one of the widest palettes of flavours with which to build and blend its rums.
Pampero rums are aged using a range of bourbon, Scotch or sherry oak barrels to develop the liquid characteristics and broaden the range of flavours and colours to choose from. The rum in these barrels matures quickly, as the heat of the Venezuelan microclimate breathes flavours into the liquids at a faster rate than anywhere else in the world.
INTERESTING FACTS
- The intense microclimate in Venezuela matures liquids three times faster than in chilly Scotland. So, a 7-year-old Venezuelan rum has the depth and richness of a 21-year-old Scotch.
- Pampero is proudly the first rum to be accredited añejo (‘aged’) by the Venezuelan government, thanks to its two-year minimum maturation process.