The Rums of Mexico (700 ml) Cana Dura Rum, Veracruz (93.4 proof)

The Rums of Mexico Caña Dura Marcos López is an unaged aguardiente distilled from Caña Dura sugarcane — also called Caña Fierro — a pale yellow-green variety prized in the Cosautlán de Carvajal region of Veracruz. Fourth-generation aguardientero Marcos López crafts this spirit from fresh-pressed cane juice and distills it in a traditional five-plate continuous still built from stainless steel and copper, bottled at 93.4 proof. This is one of five expressions from The Rums of Mexico, a project documenting four distillers working across three Mexican states. Marcos López himself represents a family tradition passed from his grandfather and father, and the Caña Dura variety he grows is among the most distinctive in Veracruz's cane-growing heartland. Marcos is a renaissance farmer who cultivates coffee, limes, and citrus honey alongside his sugarcane, and that polyculture approach shapes the land his cane draws from. The Cosautlán de Carvajal region sits in the central highlands of Veracruz, where volcanic soils and altitude give the cane a mineral backbone you taste in the glass. The five-plate continuous still allows Marcos to retain more of the raw cane's grassiness and salinity than a pot still would, and the result is a spirit that tastes more of place than barrel. No aging means nothing softens the edges — what you get is pure terroir and the still's clean, copper-driven distillation. On the nose, Caña Dura opens with salty, savory aromas: tapenade, cucumber, watermelon rind, capers, lime zest. The palate delivers nectarine skin, golden apple, honey, oat bran, and a wet-stone minerality that anchors the fruit. The finish is bright and saline, with a faint honeyed sweetness that never dominates. This is a rum for sipping neat or over a single large cube — let it warm and the mineral and fruit notes separate cleanly. It also brings a rare savory complexity to stirred cocktails, especially those built around citrus or salinity: try it in a Daiquiri, a Ti' Punch, or split with a funky Jamaican rum in an Old Fashioned. The Rums of Mexico Caña Dura Marcos López is available for pickup at Off Premise Chicago, 1128 W Armitage Ave in Lincoln Park, for local Chicago delivery, or nationwide shipping.