San Juan Artisan Distillers — Local services in Vega Alta

I just finished a tour at this location and had an amazing time! I wanted to tour a rum distillery while in Puerto Rico that was going to give me a cultural experience and this exceeded my expectations. I scheduled a tour through a third party (Casa Ventura) for a group of 11 and local distillers of San Juan Artisan Distillers were our tour guides.

The tour started with a cocktail and waters in their main house on the property. We were given some historical background on the distillery and the rum industry. From there, we were shown the distillery, the sugar cane fields, the mulcher, the bottling area and the laboratory where they measure the quality of their product. The tour finished with a rum tasting in the main house and some salted plantain chips.

Pros from the experience: -LOCAL experience -Authentic -Accommodating (we had an allergy that needed to be accommodated to that I forgot to mention prior to arriving) -Detailed tour guide -Staff are pleasant, friendly, and passionate about what they do -10 tastings! -Tour guide was happy to answer questions

Cons: Advertisement for booking a tour was confusing. After checking multiple websites, I was unable to find a website for the distillery and was, instead, redirected to third parties that required a 10 group minimum to schedule a tour. But after arriving, there was an additional group of 2 who joined the tour. I don’t mind having a tour with multiple parties, but I was under the impression small group tours were not an option from this distillery’s digital presence.

Additionally, the tour was shorter than expected. This wasn’t a big deal because I had a great time and had all my questions answered, but this could be clarified on the online descriptions of the third parties, as well.

All in all, this was a wonderful experience and better than other touristy distilleries in the area. I would absolutely recommend this...

I was excited to try their Rhum agricole. It's made from the juice of the sugar cane grown on the estate. Most rum is made from molasses. The fermented and distilled cane juice has a distinct flavor. Their Ron Pepón Agrícolas are delicious, both the Blanco and Añejo are distinctive, and any rum fan should try these.

Gabriel, our tour guide was great. He had excellent knowledge of the process, from the history of the cane variety grown, harvesting, processing, fermentation, distillation, and aging. He was very friendly and accommodating to all members of the tour. He could answer any question in a manner that was easy to understand. Gabriel made the distillery tour fun and interesting. I highly recommend making a stop at the most unique distillery in...

We got a great tour from the owner and his son - the regular tour manager was out sick. This was the first (only) producer of rum agricole in Puerto Rico. Our tour had only about 10-12 people. We had a cocktail on the porch while we waited for everyone to arrive. The owner gave a history of how the business started and the process of getting a rum distillery up and running. We visited the barrel house (Bodega), then walked the cane fields and saw sugar cane being harvested by hand. We saw the milling equipment and fermentation tanks, then the pot stills and bottling process and labs. Ended with a generous tasting of all of the products. We saw everything from cane to snifter. Highly educational, tasty, and...