
Filipino drinkers are one in extolling the virtues of a smooth glass of spirit that glides pleasingly on the tongue. For a long time, rum had to be mixed with everything from juice to cola to make it more appealing, and to mask the lack of smoothness and aftertastes.
Enter Aaron James Limpe Aw, sixth generation master blender of Destileria Limtuaco & Co., Inc. (DLCI), whose ancestors established this, the country’s oldest distillery, in 1852. In 2008, they acquired a reclaimed cognac pot still. Pot still distillation is an old, painstaking method that produces better quality rum, and which DLCI first used to blend other rum products.



In an interview with Spot.PH, Limpe-Aw recalls how the decision to shift to a more pure and authentic product was reinforced after he met a rum expert, who encouraged him to try to create a white rum. “We weren’t very confident at the time,” Limpe Aw told Spot.PH’s Patrica Baes. “Filipinos aren’t really used to it.” After tweaking and experimenting, however, they finally came up with their ideal, 55 percent proof brew: The flagship White variant of Bonifacio Rum was born, with the ideal smoothness they had been looking for.


Last August 18, DLCI launched Bonifacio Rum at The Spirits Library in Makati, with bartenders, industry professionals, enthusiasts, and media in attendance. Still as a nod to the company’s storied history, Bonifacio Rum is named after DLCI’s founder, Don Bonifacio Limtuaco, and is the country’s first pure pot-distilled rum made from high-quality Philippine molasses, bringing with it “The Refined Taste of Heritage and Excellence.” In the apt words of Esquire Magazine’s Joel Donato Ching Jacob, “…Filipino rum—as represented by Bonifacio—carries the weight of our contested lands, our fragile climate, our workers in the fields of Batangas and Tarlac. To make rum is to cut cane, to boil molasses, to choose what to save from the still and what to discard, to know which parts might blind and which parts will illuminate. In every glass of Bonifacio, one tastes not only sweetness but struggle, not only smoothness but history.”



At the launch, Limpe Aw presided over a masterclass on what goes behind the creation of Bonifacio Rum. Guests were also guided through an enlightening tasting of the three Bonifacio Rum varieties: the original and unadulterated Bonifacio Philippine Pure Pot Still White Rum, with banana and cane sugar flavors; the oak-mellowed Bonifacio Aged Rum, spicy and smooth; and the balanced Bonifacio Philippine Pot Still Blend Legacy Rum, with hints of caramel and chocolate. This was followed with some mixology pointers, where Limpe Aw and DLCI’s Spirits team concocting a Bonifacio Daiquiri with the White Rum and highballs with the Legacy Rum.



“Tonight was about more than just a launch; it was about sharing a piece of our family’s legacy and our passion for true craftsmanship,” said Limpe Aw. “Bonifacio Rum is a testament to our enduring commitment to pot-still tradition and the rich resources of the Philippines.”