In art, design, food, music, and travel, we find we are more similar than different. El Supremo Rum is a celebration of culture, creativity and curiosity. Our team comprises creatives, craftsmen, and story-tellers from around the world, inspired to tell the story of Paraguay’s best kept secret. We encourage you too to share with us meaningful dialogue, perspectives, and creations, all over our favorite drink.

Philosophy
A glimpse into what we believe in

Comfort in permanence
Where modernity entails ephemeral, never has nostalgia been more precious. That is why our recipe has remained unchanged for centuries: the freshest cãna, patiently aged in local Incienso Marrón barrels, and carefully finished in French Oak casks. Today, our agricole-style rums pay tribute to visionaries of generations past with authentic, vintage flavors. Our past continues to inspire us to create something special for future generations of rum lovers to enjoy.

Thoughtfulness by design
In this digital age, there is nothing quite like creating something so weighty, so tactile, so final. Our creative process is rigorous and introspective. From taste testing, to label design, to packaging material, every step we take is meticulous and intentional. That is why we are excited to share with you our award winning bottle design and rum.

Process
A 500 Year Old Tradition

Throughout the centuries, the recipe for Paraguay’s best kept secret has remained unpretentious and unchanged: A perfect balance of the freshest natural ingredients, generations of refinement, and the uncompromising pursuit of excellence. The result: The perfect full bodied premium sipping rum with extreme smoothness and distinguished aromas.

At El Supremo Rum, we are proud to carry on this tradition.

On fertile lands
With its languorous tropical climate and fertile lands, Paraguay is home to the freshest sugar cane. Our cane is sustainably sourced from local farmers who continue to utilize traditional harvesting methods passed down to them from generations past.

Paraguay is also home to the Guarani Aquifer, named after the local indigeneous Guarani people. The aquifer is the world’s 2nd largest catchment of fresh groundwater, spanning over 1.2 million square kilometers. The sweet spring water remains unexposed to contamination and is used in our distillation process to further enhance the quality of El Supremo Rum.

Caña Paraguaya
Our sugar cane is patiently hand-cut and harvested, then loaded onto carretas and pulled by oxen to well-worn mills. The caña is ground and squeezed until the juice is extracted, then filtered and reduced in large vats over open fire for nine hours until it reaches a honey state. The honey is left to ferment for three days before being distilled in copper columns still. Finally, the famous Caña Paraguaya is ready for aging.

Incienso Marrón
Our rum is famously aged in towering vats made of Incienso Marrón wood. This native Paraguayan wood is what imparts both a special flavor and color to El Supremo Rum. Hard yet porous, this unique timber allows greater oxidation, increasing the complexity and intensity of our rum while giving it a distinctive smoky aroma. The tannins impart a beautiful deep amber color, as well as caramel, toffee and nutty flavors.

After years of aging, the aged rum is transferred from the Incienso Marrón barrels to French Oak casks for its final maturation. This patient process amongst timbers is what ensures the body, bouquet and flavor of El Supremo Rum. The result is a smooth, amber coloured rum with perfectly balanced aromas.

A remarkable paradox in cask cooperage indeed.

Embotellado
After maturation, the spirit finally begins a ten-day journey in long barges, pulled and pushed by tugs from Asunción to Montevideo. From here, the liquid gold is quickly rushed across the Atlantic to Bordeaux in France for final tasting, filtration, bottling, labeling and shipping worldwide.

The sun casts a dusty amber dusk as it dips beneath the horizon. A cool autumn breeze hums throughout a sleepy city center. Cobblestone streets wind between neon lit bars and impressive Baroque architecture. The languorous Río Paraguayo brushes over a seemingly endless ribbon of promenade. 

20,000 kilometers, 30 flight hours, and 3 time zones later, we find ourselves at the historical crossroad of Asunción.  

Affectionately known as the Mother of Cities, Asunción absorbed diverse cultures until her very walls can be read as if a history book. The buildings shrink in the city center where the original Spanish streets once were, wrinkling into narrow, winding roads. Grandiose colonial-era constructions eternally line her stony sidewalks.

As we venture away from the city center, the city begins to grow again. Eclectic murals adorn the facade of cookie-cutter residential blocks. Heady scents of tea and smoke stalked us as we traversed under their angular shadows. Cars splutter as they navigate uneven roads. Metal spoons clutter on bubbling pots. Chatter is incessant and nondescript. Stalls bursting with piles of bread, patterned cloth, woven baskets, leather slippers, wooden trinkets, and fruit blur in an array of color and texture.

A full day’s worth of travel removed from the city proper, we were reminded of the beauty and humbling endlessness of the Paraguayan countryside. First, a treacherous boat ride down the Río Paraguayo, on which the literal pillars that held up this great city were floated. Next, a bumpy ride off the beaten path, into an ever unfolding flux of sugar cane fields that roll beyond the horizon. 

Alas, between rolling hills under unblemished skies, we reach the end of our pilgrimage. Our destination: a well-worn distillery whose appearance belies its significance. An emblematic establishment whose values of today embody a culmination of cultural exchange from centuries past. It is here that we learned of Paraguay’s best kept secret.