Changing faces
Paranubes is altering the dynamic of Mexican rum
Perhaps not widely considered a hot bed of rum outside of its borders, Paranubes is attempting to change the scene in Mexico. We get to know Francisco Terrazas, one of the co-founders at Paranubes, the brand and learn about aguardiente de caña, Charranda and the Mexican rum scene.
FRANCISCO, CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOURSELF AND HOW YOU GOT INTO THE WORLD OF SPIRITS?
My name is Francisco Terrazas, and I am the former national brand manager and co-founder for Paranubes Oaxacan rum. We are a small, single-family produced cane juice rum brand from the Sierra Mazateca region of Northern Oaxaca. I have been working with Mexican spirits for eight years, first as a bartender and manager of a mezcal bar in Houston, Texas, called The Pastry War.
WHO WORKS ON PARANUBES?
Paranubes is produced by Jose Luís Carrera, a third generation aguadientero (aguardiente producer), who lives in Rio Tuerto, Huautla de Jimenez, Oaxaca on his family’s ranch. His family has a deep history in the area, having founded the village they now live in several generations prior. They are responsible for essentially every step of the process, from cane cultivation, to harvest and aguardiente production.
Co-founders Judah Kuper and Dylan Sloan, along with myself started the brand after Judah and Dylan went on a two-year hunt to find a really incredible aguardiente. Having worked for several years in Oaxaca bringing
mezcal to the US, and all of us having a passion for unaged spirits that reflect a genuine sense of place and raw material, we saw the potential for something special coming out of Oaxaca given its history of cane agriculture.
SPEAKING BROADLY, WHAT IS THE RUM SCENE LIKE IN MEXICO? IS IT A SPIRIT THAT PEOPLE DRINK OFTEN AND HOW DO THEY TYPICALLY DRINK IT? IS THERE A PARTICULAR STYLE THAT MEXICANS GO FOR IN RUM?
Well, in Mexico the term rum is typically used to refer to molasses-based rums, while cane juice rum is called aguardiente de caña. There is another type of cane distillate, called Charranda, which is produced in the state of Michoacan and has its own geographical protection, called Denominación de Orígen; this can be a blend of both molasses and fresh cane juice. Both Charranda and aguardiente are in their infancy in terms of being recognised on an international stage as legitimate, artisanal distillates. However, when you start from nothing, that just means there is room for rapid growth!
Historically, aguardiente has been seen to be the drink of those on the lowest rungs of the socioeconomic ladder. The aristocracy were historically drinking whiskey, brandy and tequila. The farmers were drinking mezcal and the vagrants were drinking aguardiente! As such, we are definitely fighting an uphill battle as far as legitimacy in the domestic market is concerned.
As the Mezal market has boomed, people are looking for the next big thing. I think this has really positioned aguardiente well to catch some of that momentum. It’s available, it’s relatively easy to produce compared to mezcal, while often maintaining the same level of artisanship, and its much cheaper to produce than traditionally produced agave spirits.
The cocktail culture is developing in urban centres like Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey and has introduced it to consumers. In Oaxaca City, you see the influence of international bartenders on bar culture, which has given Mexican cane juice spirits a lane in which to find momentum.
HOW ARE THE PARANUBES SPIRITS PRODUCED?
Like mezcal, the process starts in the field. Half of the sugarcane grown for Paranubes is from Jose Luís’ land, with the remaining 50 per cent from the immediately surrounding area. So, it’s hyper-local to where we are. We hand-harvest one metric tonne of cane each morning and bring it down to the trapiche, or distillery, by truck or pack animal. Once there, it is immediately pressed with a belt-driven cane press.
This produces 1,100 litres of juice per day, which is gravity-fed into an open air, wooden fermentation vat. This is blended with juice that has been fermented with ambient yeast for up to four months, where it is allowed to rest for 24-48 hours before being distilled. Again, using gravity the 550 litres of fermented cane juice is fed into a copper pot still, which has a six-plate copper column mounted on top.
This will run for eight hours, producing 90 litres of aguardiente, which we separate into five different 18-litre cuts. The distillations are further separated by day and we blend the runs every two weeks. We have 1,260 litres of rum that we can blend into 1,100 litre batches. This separation of cuts and daily still runs allows us to control the flavours that are being blended, providing a consistent flavour profile from an ambient yeast fermented spirit.
Jose Luís uses four varieties of cane; Criollo, Duro, Dulce/Amarillo and Negro/Morado. However, Criollo makes up 85 per cent of the blend, as it is the heartiest and lasts longest upon reaching maturity, producing the highest yield and richest body. The other varietals are blended in to give the spirit nuance.
WHAT IS THE CHARACTER OF PARANUBES? For a cane juice rum, Paranubes has an incredibly rich and aromatic nose. Once the bottle is poured, the spirit can be smelled from across the bar. Because of the long fermentation, it has a very unctuous mouthfeel that coats the palate. The long fermentation and proximity to the coastal plains of Veracruz imparts a note of brine to the aromatic profile. On the palate, it carries savoury notes of black olive and stewed tomato. In the midpalate, the savoury notes give way to the rich sweetness of the fresh cane juice and rich tropical fruit – think mango, papaya and pineapple – with the heavy mouthfeel carrying those notes through a very long finish. HOW DOES YOUR LOCAL ENVIRONMENT INSPIRE WHAT YOU DO WITH PARANUBES? The indigenous Mazatec culture has lent so much to the area besides the name Sierra Mazateca. The culture is rich and mystic. Mazatec is even its own language group, separate from Zaptoec, which most people associate with Oaxaca. Mazatec also contains a secondary language of whistle speak.
The natural environment provides further inspiration in its rich, tropical vibrancy. Mango, banana, coffee and papaya are grown prolifically and the rugged topography creates microclimates that are integral to the process and flavour profile of Paranubes. Essentially, we felt that the Mazatec region through both the indigenous culture and natural environment, is so unique and different from the rest of the Oaxaca, that we really felt it deserved recognition of its own. Luckily,
Jose Luís creates an incredible distillate that matches that singularity and allows us to shine a light on this overlooked part of Oaxaca. COCKTAILS – HOW WOULD YOU USE PARANUBES? This may sound cliché, but our favourite is a daiquiri. Most rum nerds think it’s the perfect vehicle for showcasing a rum and there is a good reason for it. The aromatics of our rum shine through even before the drink is shaken and the richness provides a profile that is difficult to find in any other unaged rum. The spirit is balanced enough to not feel cloying. Alternatively in a Presidente – Terry Williams, an incredible bartender at Better Luck Tomorrow in Houston, Texas made me one a
few years ago and to this day, it is my favourite pre-dinner drink. The savoury quality of Paranubes juxtaposed with the fruity, grassy ester notes afford incredible tiki cocktails. WHAT DOES THE BRAND HAVE ON THE HORIZON? We are starting to experiment with oak ageing. We recently procured some oak barrels from a few good friends of ours and are waiting to see how the spirit evolves with the wood. We are always thinking of possibly looking at states in Mexico other than Oaxaca. Mexico has such a large amount of land under planting that there’s bound to be some incredible cane distillates out among the hills. Ultimately we really want to see the category grow. We’ve seen some dear friends follow suit and start to work with incredible producers in other parts of Oaxaca. It would be great to see all of our brands, as well as those Charranda producers, start to gain notoriety and establish the legitimacy of Mexican cane spirits. We need to balance that with responsible production practices, both from an environmental and human perspective.
Like mezcal producers, we need to do our part to not endanger the longevity of the communities that are working to bring these artistic expressions of cane to the world.