Sofia Deleon has launched her own rum, Tenango, after being inspired by her great-grandmother.

A Philadelphia entrepreneur has taken her great-grandmother’s legacy of making moonshine and created her own rum company.

Sofia Deleon, of El Merkury restaurants, just launched Tenango Rum earlier this year. Born and raised in Guatemala City before coming to the United States in 2012, Deleon always heard stories about her great-grandmother in the 1920s. “My great-grandmother used to make cusha, which is a Guatemalan version of moonshine that’s made with corn and sugarcane,” Deleon says. “I thought it was very inspiring, and it led me to follow in her footsteps.”

So Deleon says she decided that for her next entrepreneurial venture, she decided to investigate rum. “Growing up in Guatemala, I saw a disconnect between how Americans see rum and how the rest of the world sees rum,” Deleon says. “Most Americans associate with super sweet, hangover-prone tiki drinks that come with an umbrella that they’re most likely drinking on vacation.”

But rum, she says, can be so much, much more. “I want to reshape that perception of rum,” Deleon says.

Tenango is a 100 percent, single source rum, and it is crafted at a Guatamalan distillery. Made with grade A molasses on a column still using a traditional, Spanish method, it is aged in American white oak barrels.

The depth of the flavor, she says, distinguishes it from other rums, but its packaging is also distinctive.

“When I went back home and embarked on this rum journey, I wanted my product to extend beyond a great liquid,” Deleon says. “My larger goal was to give back and represent Guatemala in the best way.”

“To me, nothing says Guatemala more than the colorful weavings found all over the country so I thought ‘How can I best incorporate them in my bottle?’” she adds.

This question led Deleon to create a co-op of Mayan women, who handcraft each cover of every bottle. “It’s one thing to see a tag saying ‘made by hand,’ but to see it woven in a foot loom is something really magical,” she says. “The first time I witnessed the process in-person, I decided I wanted to do everything possible to keep this art alive through my product.”

Deleon was connected to one of the women through her father, who lives in Guatemala. “He managed to build the trust that was needed to allow this project to succeed,” she says.

Deleon then worked with a local designer known for working with traditional tejidos or Guatemalan fabric. “We must have gone through dozens of iterations until we got it to finally fit the bottle,” she says.

Deleon expresses her fondness for savoring Tenango neat, particularly after a hard day at work. However, she also appreciates it in cocktail concoctions. She says, “At the dining establishments, it captivates my curiosity to explore the various mixologist innovations around spirit-forward recipes. Interestingly, one dessert drink that stays close to my heart is Carajillo, as the coffee elements dovetail beautifully with the rum’s attributes.”

Currently, Tenango is available for purchase in Pennsylvania and New Jersey at an offering price of $49.99 per bottle. For its future trajectory, Deleon is optimistic about broadening the reach. She adds, “Akin to El Merkury, Tenango is a byproduct of my aspiration to portray Guatemala in a better light, which despite being a spectacular nation with rich offerings, is frequently misrepresented negatively in the press.”