Cañada

Cañada Rum is made by La Familia Krassel, third-generation aguardiente master distillers in the town Santa Maria Tlalixtac, Oaxaca.

Organic sugarcane is hand-harvested from the laderas (hillsides) above the palenque (distillery), from altitudes that range from 700 to 1200 meters (2,300 – 3,900 feet) above sea level. The harvested cane is transported by horse, donkey or mule to the trapiche to be milled that day.

Batches distilled from low-altitude cane are harvested between 700 and 900 meters. Batches distilled from cane higher than 900 meters are from lower-yielding cane.

“La Cañada, Oaxaca, is a region with as much biological diversity as there is linguistic variety. The region is made up of Mazateco, Mixteco, Chinanteco and Cuicateco farmers who grow an amazing array of organic crops. Apart from sugar cane, you will find many varieties of maize, beans and chile, and in the lower-altitude regions with higher humidity, farmers will plant plantains, oranges, guavas, zapote negro, and mandarins. Coffee production was immensely important to the region until about twenty years ago, when a widespread plague wiped out the majority of the plants in the region.

Farming in the region is labor intensive because of two important natural factors. The first are the steep hillsides that can have gradients as high as 20 degrees, meaning that all harvesting and planting must be done by hand rather than machine or animal. The second factor is the the clay loam soil characteristic to the region. Clay loam has a propensity to retain a lot of water, which makes its denser and less malleable for planting.

Despite these geographic challenges, farmers in the region persist. The Krassel family in particular plant an impressive amount of sugar cane – the plants stretch further than the eye can see. In lower altitude plots, the cane is harvested annually, and the soil of the plots is regenerated once per decade when the family plants legumes in place of cane as a method to restore nitrogen to the soil. For higher altitude plots, the cane takes 16 months to mature.”

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