Tanduay Distillers, Inc., the alcoholic beverage arm of Lucio Tan Group, already has it all — its own sugar mills and an award-winning brand taking over the world.    

Just recently, Tanduay made it to the top 100 liquor brands of Ultimate Spirits Challenge, the world's most prestigious global spirits competition.

The Philippines particularly secured three spots in this year's Ultimate Spirits Challenge,widely dominated by Italy, United States, and Mexico.      

The Tanduay Double 16 Years Old Aged Rum was a finalist for the rum category, receiving a rating of 94 and was adjudged excellent and highly recommended.

Tanduay Asian Rum Gold, meanwhile, received a 92 rating and was also adjudged excellent and highly recommended.

With a rating of 88, Tanduay Silver Asian received a strong recommendation and was deemed very good.

This June, Tanduay was also declared once again the world’s best-selling rum by Drinks International.

“Tanduay has always been committed to creating the best rum possible. From the sugarcanes we use to our distillation process, we make sure that each product that comes out of our plants have gone through

our stringent quality checks,” said Tanduay SVP for Sales and Marketing Paul Lim.

Tanduay sources its sugarcanes from Victorias, Negros Occidental, where planting begins just as the rainy season is about to start and harvesting done by summer of the following year.

The canes would then find their way to Tanduay’s sugar mill, where they are carefully cleaned, stripped off their leaves, cut, and refined.

From these canes will come the molasses, the key ingredient to making rum.

The molasses is then fermented for 12 hours. This process turns the sugars into alcohol, creating a ferment prime for distillation.

“At Tanduay, we only use first-syrup molasses, which are extracted from the initial boil of the sugarcanes. It contains a high sugar content, and is valued for its unique taste,” Lim said.

Tanduay’s distillation plants are located in Negros Occidental, Misamis Oriental, and Laguna, and they keep the tradition of Tanduay’s original distillery in Manila, which has already been decommissioned.
The country’s humidity and these distilleries’ high elevation contribute to Tanduay rum’s distinct flavors and aromas. It is in these distilleries where the molasses is turned into a clear liquid—ethanol.
“Our skilled blenders would then take over. We owe much to them for creating the Tanduay flavors that the world has come to love,” Lim said.

The liquids are stored in Kentucky bourbon oak barrels, where they will be aged.

“Tanduay uses two aging processes. In the single-barrel method, rums mature in individual barrels for a set amount of time. The solera aging process, meanwhile, channels the rums through a series of Kentucky bourbon barrels that are never empty, which helps create and sustain the flavors contained there for generations,” Lim said.

Tanduay’s Master Blender, who is the guardian of Tanduay’s formulas, will then check the rum for consistency and quality. Once the Master Blender gives the go signal, the rums are sent for bottling and packaging.

“Creating a Tanduay product requires hard work and dedication, so we are deeply honored every time we would receive an award. Most of all, we are thankful for the loyal patronage of Tanduay consumers who now comprise not only our fellow Filipinos but people from other countries as well,” Lim said.