Automatically translated from Basque, translation may contain errors. More information here. Elhuyarren itzultzaile automatikoaren logoa

Biscayan rum

  • It's a giant herb that can last for five or six meters. The thick and powerful stem that holds the grass has a flexible, difficult and robust cane structure. It is a sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum). In the subsoil, it forms a hard network of cane roots that support, standing, the wind over the dressing rooms, the grass to such an extent.

06 October 2022 - 08:25

Sugar cane comes from Asia, just like the word sugar. It is said to have been from New Guinea. The name of the Greek genus Sákcharon and saccharum saccharum, sugar cane, comes from the words used to say sugar in Malaysia, India, Iran, etc., on the long way to us. He was moved to Andalusia by the Arabs over a thousand years ago, from where the Spanish Empire first extended him to the islands of Macarronesia (Madeira, Canary Islands…) and from there to tropical America. The spread of his work was closely linked to that of slavery.

Sugar cane grows well in warm, humid places. In the harvest all the cane is cut and renewed with new outbreaks below. The same plant may take between six and eight years, and then a new field of cultivation can be carried out by planting pieces of cane in crushed. The sugar is generated from the cane that is harvested, squeezed and heated the must; 10% of the weight of the cane.

Although sugar is a high-value benefit, it is not the only benefit left to this cane. Alcohol is also important, as well as biofuel as our internal fuel: Rum from the Caribbean, cachaça de Brasil, poncha de Madeira, ronmiel de Canarias, etc.

Among Ron, the Cuban has been the most famous. Then Cuba's walking snorkelers have followed here and there in the making of orujos. One of them is the Oliver&Oliver company, which runs the Vizcaya Ranch VXOP, considered one of the best in the world in the Dominican Republic. The cator of the company Ricardo Giuliano and the master mixer Omar López are the authors of this very special rum. They created the rum that they were going to drink to their liking.

Bizkaia plays an important role in the restoration. In Gordexola, Teodoro José, son of José Aretxabala Lartuondo and Juana Aldama Gastaka were born in 1847. As a young man he had his own liquor company Kubaratu and 1878: “La Vizcaya”. In 1934 he launched the famous Havana Club. On the label of the Havana Club rona he put the shield of Bizkaia from his heart. This shield, as well as that of Bilbao, appeared in its other liquors: anise, gin, bermuda, cognac, medical alcohol… Later, after the expropriation of the company after the Cuban Revolution, the exiled family Miamira sold to the company Bacardi the right to sell Havana Club in the USA, which include it in the labels of several limited editions. The Cuban Government, in addition to the French company Pernod Ricard, shares around the world the same brand rum that they make without the shield of Bizkaia. Another part of the family of Aretxabaleta performs in Panama the famous ron Arechavala.

The City Hall of Gordexola is located in the Indians' house that Teodoro José built for him. In the basement of that house, what happens now in the old winery?


You are interested in the channel: Landareak
2025-02-17 | Jakoba Errekondo
Negupase of insects
The cold is raging. When it's not, but this winter it's hitting some territories beautifully. And how do insects survive to reappear in force with spring? I had a street question last night. From there there is the little cochlea to the intelligence and ingenuity of the insects... [+]

2025-02-17 | Nagore Zaldua
Amorrotxa, a blue-blooded dreamer?
Skillful, witty and elusive; the common octopus, although the name does not indicate it, has extraordinary abilities. This carnivorous marine cephalopod mollusk impresses us with its strange qualities and powers. It is the smartest of all invertebrates, among other things.

2025-02-17 | Garazi Zabaleta
Location of Xüxenka
Collective point of sale managed by small farmers nearby in Maule
The Maule Euskalduna Guesthouse has been working for years with the products of the small producers of houses in Zubero, and when they bought a building in front of the hostel in the capital, he proposed to the same growers: why not open the point of sale of nearby producers in... [+]

Just as we experienced the flourishing of the Basque Country with the help of the artists, so that this time, taking advantage of their impulses, we continue to make our way together giving the necessary support to the Basque political prisoners, exiles and deportees

The... [+]


2025-02-10 | Jakoba Errekondo
Migranondo, another one for the house
The Mingrana is a fruit brought from far away. Punisagar is the mingran or the alesagar or the allegory or the milagrana or the xochor or the pomegranate: The punica granatum. The name Punica comes from the Latin, and is the abbreviation for “punicum malum”, and this punicum... [+]

2025-02-10 | Garazi Zabaleta
Location of Herrizoma
The Vitoria-Gasteiz food network transformation tool
In the post-pandemic context, a group in Vitoria-Gasteiz began to move to work on food, which is supposed to be a fundamental right. “Other issues were already being dealt with in the field of militancy, such as housing, but with food as a focus there were no such groups, we... [+]

2025-02-10 | Irati Diez Virto
Since the ice age, endemism has been compromised.
During the last glaciation the territory of the Basque Country was trampled by mammoths, bears of caves, bison and even hyenas. These animals, exposed to persistent and cold snow, disappeared along with the glacial conditions. But just as small mammals survived the extinction of... [+]

2025-02-03 | Garazi Zabaleta
The Bio-K
Chukruta and kimchi of the Basque Country
Satxa Zeberio, promoter of the Bio-K project, moved to Errezil and planted apple trees several years ago. “It was time to do something with apples, and then we started producing apple juice and cider,” he explains. In 2015, the Bio-K project was officially created and, in... [+]

2025-02-03 | Jakoba Errekondo
To burn and draw coal
Goodbye for the winter. It's winter and it's coming. Mimosas (Acacia dealbata) and magnolias (Magnolia soulangeana and Magnolia stellata) have flourished, so welcome to the main blooms. But watch out for the cold. Although the daylight has already spread for a little more than an... [+]

The Brown Vulture
The Nature Cleaner
This bird, so popular in our country, is a stubborn rotten bird that has not brought it a good reputation. Some call it an eagle, a buitre, a futre, a hatxarrano or a mirusai; the official name is the brown sai (Gyps fulvus).

Wool, fairy and colostrum
The peace that comes from rooting in the wool often saves me from storms both inside and outside. I haven't found a more effective peacemaker in the area than Lana. Their strength increases if blood, placenta and colostrum are involved; because together with the wool they have... [+]

A powerful hunter with a weak appearance
The largest insects currently inhabiting the planet Earth may be about 30 cm in size, about one-sixth of a human being. These include giant butterflies and moths or fat beetles. In the face of such amazing creatures, how can one look at a creature of just four centimeters? The... [+]

Watering in winter
In February, when we are in the middle of winter, the priority is to have a well-watered body. Just like the walnut is doing: it uses the roots as a reservoir in winter, it needs short and thick roots to collect water and nutrients from the soil.

2025-01-27 | Garazi Zabaleta
The network of seeds
Place of collection and dissemination of the seeds of the village Itsasun
The Association of the Earth of Tomorrow (BLE) of the Northern Basque Country has been working for years on cultivated biodiversity. “We have several projects underway, one of which revolves around the seeds of the garden,” explains Nico Mendiboure, a member of the Seed... [+]

2025-01-27 | Jakoba Errekondo
Herbs of the pig
Winter is the season of pig slaughter. The cold will make it easier to get rid of the heat. If only we could get rid of the heat when we talk about pigs, too!

Eguneraketa berriak daude