The Story
During Spanish Colonial rule, a part of their Central American empire was carved out into a new province and named El Salvador after Jesus Christ “The Savior.” At that time, colonist used rum like a currency to trade with the Pipil and other Indigenous peoples of El Salvador. Because of its trade vale and its associated byproducts, molasses and rum, sugar cane quickly became one of the most valuable crops in the region and the cause of numerous conflicts.
As the economy of El Salvador progressed, rum was supplanted by the peso as the currency of choice. Then in 1892, President Carlos Ezeta and the government of El Salvador renamed the Salvadorian peso to the Colón in honor of the 400th anniversary of Spain’s “discovery” of the New World. And for the next 109 years the Colón remained the national currency until El Salvador replaced it with the U.S. Dollar in 2001.
Since the 1920s Ingenio La Cabana has been growing and processing sugar cane near the Mayan ruins of Cihuatán, north of San Salvador. In 2004, Cabana built the distillery Licorera Cihuatan, which is overseen by Master Distiller and Blender Gabriella Ayala, and is the source of the Salvadorian rum used in Ron Colón Salvadoreño products.
While wars may no longer be fought over rum and the colón is no longer in use, their powerful history remains with Ron Colón Salvadoreño, the currency of El Salvador
