Paul's Spirited Travel
Rediscovering Puerto Rico:
A Chocolate and Rum Experience
The Caribbean Island of Puerto Rico lies 50 miles east of the Dominican Republic, 40 miles west of the Virgin Islands, and 1000 miles from the U.S. state of Florida, making it the easternmost island of the Greater Antilles chain. The culture of the island is a fusion of Afro-Caribbean, Spanish, and U.S. influences that give its populace of 32 million their own distinct identity and spirit. On September 20th, 2017, category 4 Hurricane Maria made landfall on the island, resulting in thousands of lives lost, decimating the island’s infrastructure, from its power grid to its crops. Adding to the challenges of recovery, earthquakes and the COVID-19 pandemic slowed the restoration of the power grid, infrastructure, and agricultural cornerstones of the island to a crawl. In 2022, the island continues its recovery and redevelopment on all fronts, and it was a pleasant surprise that I received an invitation from Discover Puerto Rico to attend a whirlwind visit that promised to be a gastronomic journey focused on the chocolate and rum industries of the island.
I arrived in Puerto Rico and enjoyed a quiet lunch at Barulllo Taberna Española before I was transported to the Palacio Provincial Hotel, located in the heart of Old San Juan. This historic 19th century colonial building has been modernized and has been open as a hotel for a little over a year. Walking around Old San Juan, there is a fusion of old and new stores and restaurants, the bustle of construction, and the familiar sights and sounds that made me fall in love with the old city years ago. By luck, I found myself standing outside Barrachina, one of two locations in Puerto Rico that claim to be the birthplace of the Piña Colada, and could not resist paying them a visit. One Don Q Gold Piña Colada later, I continued my exploration, listening to street musicians and beautiful ocean views. After wandering Old San Juan for a couple of hours, I returned to the hotel and met my travel companions for dinner, where we visited Chef Yamil Adriel’s restaurant, Fabula. During dinner, we enjoyed the food, discussed the itinerary, and made plans to gather for brunch the next morning.
Forteza chocolates
Brunch happened to be located at the Chocobar Cortes, just a brief walk from our hotel. Inside, we found a bustling restaurant filled with locals and tourists. The focus of the bar is the chocolate-themed cocktails and food, with local favorites like the Chocobar pancakes, and chocolate grilled cheese; I was hooked. Part of their many offerings is a chocolate and rum tasting featuring the Don Q rum line. While visiting the restaurant, we met with Eduardo Cortes, who is helping establish cacao as one of the crops the island produces for its growing high-end chocolate industry. The Cortes family had successfully worked with cacao farmers in the Dominican Republic and Mr. Cortes was bringing that hard-earned knowledge to Puerto Rico to help farmers grow the trees and harvest the pods that contain the cacao beans. He educated us on the Cortes and Forteza chocolate lines and how the products were used, from candy bars to baking. The staff of Chocobar guided us through a tasting that featured three rums from the island: Barrlito Three Star, Don Q Gran Reserva, and Bacardi Reserva Limitada, paired with three types of Forteza chocolates. We concluded our time at Chocobar and with the Forteza team by visiting the Fundación Cortes art gallery above Chocobar. The combination of paintings, fabric art, sculptures, and historical imagery was delightful to explore, and we moved on to our next stop with our stomachs and minds full of information from this special experience.
Bacardi Elixir
The second stop of the day was at the “Cathedral of Rum”, Casa Bacardi. It had been eight years since I had last visited the distillery, and I noticed quite a few changes during our tour. The distillery produces rum using stills and ages its products in Puerto Rico and Mexico using once-used American White Oak Bourbon barrels. The tour shares the company’s story, the origin and legacy of the brand over the years, with quite a few relics spanning Bacardi’s history. In true tour fashion, you exit through the gift shop and can purchase the distillery’s special reserve. We had the opportunity to participate in a behind-the-scenes tour and attend a rum and chocolate pairing featuring Cuatro, Ocho, Diez, and the distillery reserve that deepened our education and appreciation of how these flavors augmented each other. After our experience at Casa Bacardi, we returned to the Palacio Provincial hotel, freshened up for a Caribbean-influenced dining experience. We drove over to Antillano, a restaurant located in the Santurce barrio of San Juan, and explored a variety of flavors during the tapas experience.
The morning of our final day on the island found us traveling to the municipality of Fajardo, where the Hacienda Chocolat is located. The views overlooking the El Yunque Forest were breathtaking as we heard the Coqui frogs and watched the Red Tail Hawks ride the slipstreams. We met our guide at the base camp, and she took us on an agricultural tour of the farm. As we ascended the hill, we learned of the importance of the biodiverse farm, where we encountered pineapple plants, lemon trees, vanilla, cinnamon trees, bananas, rosemary bushes, and sugar cane all growing in and around cacao trees. It was interesting to learn how collectively all these plants work together to attract the pollinators needed to thrive. When we reached the hacienda, we enjoyed a chocolate and rum tasting paired with whiskey, tequila and rum. The tequila was a bit of a bust, but both the rum and whiskey paired well, and you could not beat the view. We departed the hacienda for lunch at Bacao Finca + Fagon, a farm-to-table experience where all ingredients used are either locally grown or caught. They served us a feast of grilled and smoked traditional Puerto Rican dishes that were divine. Eating and learning about the cultural ties of each dish elevated the entire experience.
Hacienda Chocolat
Our final stop of the day was a chocolate making class at Montadero Chocolate, led by owner German Ramos. He taught us about his family’s legacy of making fine chocolates, the challenges and inspirations of the industry, and then guided us through a hands-on experience making our own chocolate bars. He also taught us his methods for pairing rum and chocolate, with his own insights about the best way to approach the subject. We returned to the hotel and that evening were treated to a special Chef’s Table dinner by Chef Victor Torres and his team that formed the perfect conclusion to our time together.
Early the next morning, I returned to the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport for my return flight home. I could not resist taking the time to check out the Duty-Free shops to see the chocolate and rum offerings available. Most of what was available rum wise I could find at home, with a few interesting exceptions, but I found my understanding and appreciation of the chocolates I found in the shops greatly improved. As I sat waiting for my flight, I reflected upon the challenges the island is currently facing, how the spirit of perseverance and goals of sustainability were an underlying theme throughout the trip. I am grateful to the Discover Puerto Rico team for this opportunity and for everything learned during this experience. I am grateful for the knowledge I have gained about both the chocolate and rum industries, and my desire to return to Puerto Rico to see more of the island and to visit more of the distilleries is reinvigorated. There is just so much more to see and learn about this beautiful island.
