When career pivots are expected every four years, spending over 10 times that duration must feel like a lifetime. For Lorena Vásquez, it has been more than half of hers. Meeting her in person is revelatory. For context: she had landed just hours earlier, after two transfers and nearly a full day crossing time zones. Yet there she was—bright-eyed, ready to engage. Jetlag is just in your mind, she quips playfully.
Vásquez is arguably Zacapa Rum’s most precious asset. The native Nicaraguan embodies a spirit as distinctive as the brand she helped shape. First bottled in1976 to mark the centennial of the city (for the linguists, “Zacapa” is a Nahuatl phrase for “on the river of grass”), the rum has always stood apart. While rum may be a category with few hard rules, Zacapa is unabashedly different.
It’s crafted not from molasses, but virgin sugarcane honey grown in mineral-rich volcanic soil. More significantly, the ageing altitude above the clouds—2,300m above sea level, to be precise—where low temperatures, reduced oxygen levels and high pressure conspire to slow the process. Top it all off with a Solera system of maturation, and you begin to understand the alchemy. Vásquez herself is no less singular. Her vitality and penchant to connect mirrors the same layered complexity found in the rum she’s spent a lifetime perfecting. Here, we take a moment to glean.
ESQUIRE SINGAPORE: How differently do you see yourself from when you first started? Are you morerelaxed now?
LORENA VÁSQUEZ: I was only 29 when I started, and now I’m 70. I have, of course, learnt a lot and gained priceless experience. But I’ve always been very fast-paced at my core. I never stop learning and researching, and that has not changed. With that being said, you do learn to see life differently.
ESQ: What is the biggest lesson you’ve learnt from your career?
LV: Professionally, there’s so much more to the process to learn. It becomes easier at times because of familiarity and experience, but sometimes it can become more complex the deeper you get into it. Yet with technology, there’s so much more access to information. On a personal note, I’ve realised that what I used to worry about is often not that important in hindsight.
ESQ: Were there moments you doubted yourself, especially with the rum?
LV: Always. Both professionally and in life, you wonder if something is going to work. The male-dominated business is definitely challenging and intimidating. BUT, you see lessons that will help you in the near future. So instead of dwelling in the doubt, I embrace it, get a lesson out of it and turn it into something positive.
ESQ: In such a technical process, how much does intuition play into decision-making?
LV: So you have the science, which allows you to understand the intrinsic process of maturation. Then there are regulations I have to follow and legal standards to fulfil. But throughout the process, I’m inconstant conversation with the rums to understand them. That’s where sensorial knowledge and experience come in to tell me what I want the consumer to get. If you think about it, the consumer doesn’t know the laws. They just know what they get in the glass, and like it when they taste it.
ESQ: What drives your creativity and passion to learn?
LV: The consumer. I like to keep up with trends and investigate what the consumer is looking for. We evolve constantly, and each generation changes so radically. When I create, I think of what the story is and what I am trying to convey through the rum? Consumers nowadays are looking for more than just a product. They’re looking for an experience. They care about the inspiration, origin and purpose. So I aim to relate to the consumer and wow them.
ESQ: Was there anything in your childhood that sparked your interest in rum?
LV: I always had this desire to learn. Ever since I was little, I have been interested in how aromas and flavours work because of my sensitivity to smell. So I became a biochemist. If I were not blending for a living, I would have been in gastronomy because I am interested in food and beverages. Or perfumes, because of my heightened sense of smell.
ESQ: Which rum made you the proudest?
LV: (long thinking pause) Reserva Limitada 2014. I have a lot of crazy ideas, and this had a lot of challenges for me to make, but the final result was exactly what I wanted. I wanted to infuse the rum with the herbs you find in Guatemalan gastronomy, and to create a green house in one of the warehouses where we store the barrels to get the rum to absorb all those essences. The consumers are not privy to the effort that went into it, but it was a personal milestone to me.
ESQ: What is your favourite liquor aside from rum?
LV: Outside work, I relax with red wine. Not necessarily a varietal, but reds that have complexity, personality and are bold. I’m always looking to discover.
ESQ: Which rum best represents you?
LV: Wow. Okay. At this stage of my life right now, it will be the Zacapa XO. It’s very sophisticated, complex, and elegant (laughs). You experience the evolution of Zacapa’s longest ageing process. Just like all the time that I myself have gone through. It is not looking to impress you right away, but it has a lingering impact. Like how I leave an impression every time I meet anybody.
This interview was translated with aid from Global Ambassador Vanessa Leon and edited for clarity
