Rum from Mexico

By the year 1700, Spanish ships arrived to the colonies in the New World loaded with products from Spain. One popular product was sweet wine stored in barrels, which were later emptied after use. These empty barrels were filled with Chinguirito, which is rum that was produced in Mexico, and shipped back to Spain. As the rum aged in the sweet wine barrels during the trip back to spain, it absorbed wood flavours and aroma from the sweet wine barrels, which gave it very special characteristics. The resulting product became very popular in Spain, and local producers saw it as the threat to the sales of their products.Consequently, the King of Spain prohibited the production of this rum in the New World. Chinguirito was also known as Habanero because the last stop on the way back to Spain from the New World was Habana, Cuba.