Flor de Caña Rum: leader in sustainable distilling

The brand was honoured with the Distillery Sustainability Award and Ethical Award during the 2021 Spirits Business Awards.

Flor de Caña made history in 2020 when it became the only global spirit brand to be certified both carbon neutral and Fair Trade.

For decades, the Nicaraguan premium rum producer has been committed to creating a more sustainable production line: distilling its rum using 100% renewable energy and capturing all CO2 emissions during fermentation. But Flor de Caña’s commitment to being green goes much further than its distillery.

Over the past year and a half, Flor de Caña has reinforced its sustainable values through a number of initiatives. In April this year, Flor de Caña partnered with environmental charity One Tree Planted, and pledged to plant more than one million trees by 2025 – an area equating to almost 11 times the size of Monaco.

But this is not a new endeavour for the brand; Flor de Caña has already planted an impressive 800,000 trees since 2005 as part of its own annual reforestation programme.

Now the award-winning rum producer is increasing its efforts to promote these sustainable endeavours across the wider spirits industry, from distillers to bartenders – and even consumers.

Starting in July Flor de Caña launched a global movement called Zero Waste Month. The initiative invited eco-conscious bars, restaurants and consumers from around the world to collaborate to reduce more than nine tons of food waste through sustainable cocktails.

The activation was part of the brand’s wider sustainability programme, Together for a Greener Future, and worked with bartenders in more than 30 countries to create indulgent zero-waste cocktails. Using Flor de Caña as the base, the cocktails incorporated ingredients sourced from re-purposed food scraps or leftovers from the community. It’s an admirable effort, as according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, reducing global food waste is one of the best ways to fight climate change.

Most recently, 30 of the world’s most talented bartenders competed in the global final of Flor de Caña’s Sustainable Cocktail Challenge, a competition that promoted the creative use of sustainable ingredients in cocktails.

After an intense two-day final, Manachain Monaghan from the UK was crowned the first global champion for his ‘Steamship’ concoction, a zero-water waste cocktail made from home-made cacao and lime bitters, coffee liqueur made from re-used Nicaraguan coffee beans and Fair Trade-certified sugar, drops of saline solution and Flor de Caña 12 Year Rum.

Each and every one of these steps is part of Flor de Caña’s holistic approach to sustainability – and its mission to create a greener, more sustainable future for everyone.