Hacienda Luisita rum wins silver at International Wine & Spirit Competition 2022

MANILA, Philippines — Local rum brand Luisita Oro won the Silver Medal in the 2022 International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC).

The brand is the only liquor to represent the Philippines in the prestigious competition. 

Last 2021, Luisita Rum’s Single Barrel 2066 was also awarded a Silver Medal. 

The rums are products of Tarlac Distillery Corporation (TADISCO), the country’s leading suppliers of spirit to legacy Philippine rum brands such as Rum Caña and Añejo Rum. 

A nod to the traditional spirit production process and a celebration of its rich heritage dating back to the Spanish colonial period, Luisita Rum prides itself with being the country’s only single-estate rum made from molasses produced in the mill. The handcrafted rums come from the sugarcane and other indigenous materials harvested from Hacienda Luisita.

The flavor of Luisita Rum is refined, elegant, and unique — exhibiting the very essence of Luisita’s style with their signature caramelized banana note.

The production of Luisita Rum started with a Single Barrel Series — bottling just one single barrel at a time — straight out of the barrel at cask strength with only a limited number of bottles. The Single Barrel Series 2020 and Single Barrel - Sherry Cask, launched in 2021, are sold-out. 

In December 2021, TADISCO launched the first product of its Blended Series — the Luisita Oro, a standard blend of rum aged in bourbon barrels for at least two years. It gives a signature "Turon" note along with luscious flavors like oak, vanilla, coconut, nutmeg and toffee, with no additional coloring or sugar. It is available to the public in all S&R Membership Shopping outlets nationwide and e-commerce sites. 

With its recognition on the world stage, TADISCO aims for the country to join the ranks of premium, award-winning rum producers from the Caribbean, Jamaica, and the rest of South America. 

 To spread the word about the proudly Filipino-made premium rum, Paco Cojuangco — the “Farmer behind the Brand” and son of TADISCO co-founder Fernando Cojuangco — has been actively conducting masterclasses to educate more people on the craft, and change Filipinos’ perception of rum to be recognized as something premium. 

The vision — as shared by TADISCO co-founders Nando Cojuangco and Martin Lorenzo — aims to elevate the Filipino rum experience to greater heights. 

“We want to change the perception of rum locally and open a new dimension for the category by offering the product as an actual sipper. Through the sensory experience of rum, we hope to unlock the “sixth sense” — our emotions — as it evokes feelings of nostalgia from the past, the passion and drive we embody in the present, and the excitement for what the future holds,” Cojuangco said.  

First established in 1881 by the La Compañia General de Tabacos de Filipinas, TADISCO is the distillery arm of the Central Azucarera de Tarlac in Hacienda Luisita, Tarlac City. In the 1950s, TADISCO was one of the country’s leading suppliers of spirit.