This Puerto Rican attraction turns visitors into budding bartenders
ANN RUPPENSTEIN
With a blowtorch in one hand and a rocks glass in the other, Dennis Rivera meticulously lights a small pile of tobacco leaves sitting on a slab of wood from a Spanish white oak sherry barrel on fire and places the glass on top to infuse it with the smoke. Rivera, a brand specialist at Puerto Rican rum distillery Ron del Barrilito in Bayamón, is creating a cigar fashioned — a twist on an old fashioned — made with ingredients like chocolate and orange bitters, cocoa powder, and rum instead of rye.
“It smells amazing already,” he says. “This is a cigar simple syrup. We do it here ourselves; we create the tobacco syrup in house.” Ron del Barrilito is the oldest Puerto Rican rum, made in the same way since 1880, but the cocktails on offer in the visitor’s centre are fresh takes on classic cocktails. Here, rum bottles fetch as much as US $750 for a collector’s edition that’s been aged for 35 years.
After touring the premises and learning all about the history of the business and the distilling process, the tables have turned, and now I’m the one mixing drinks by taking part in a mixology class offered on site, concocting three rum-based drinks, including a pina colada.
Nicknaming the one-ounce shot glass “Monday” and the two-ounce glass “Friday,” we follow the instructions and skillfully create some top-notch cocktails.
The reward is not only to drink the fruits of our labour — everyone in the class is also presented with an official certificate for successfully completing the course.
Now who said drinking couldn’t be educational?
For clients heading to Puerto Rico, tours and mixology classes can be booked Monday through Saturday. For more information visit: rondelbarrilito.com.
