Mexican terroir

Sugarcane is grown in dozens of countries worldwide. What's interesting about sugarcane is that depending on where its grown, the flavor of sugarcane juice can vary widely. This dynamic is referred to as "terroir". This is similar to wine, where grapes grown in one region can yield a different flavor profile than identical grapes grown in another region. Mexican sugarcane has its own unique terroir which we wanted to capture in our vodka. Fun fact: Mexico is the world's 6th largest producer of sugarcane as of 2021.

Unique raw material

The vast majority of the thousands of vodkas worldwide are made with the following three raw materials: corn, potatoes, or grains (mainly wheat and rye). It's hard to pinpoint a number, but we've only counted approximately 50 vodka brands globally that use sugarcane or its derivatives (molasses, panela, sugar) as the main raw material. The number of brands that use raw sugarcane juice like Luma is unknown, but likely even lower. If we are going to create a unique product, we need to start with a unique raw material.

Easily fermentable

In order to ferment the usual raw materials used to create vodka, copious amounts of processing, water, and heating are needed to create a fermentable wash. In many cases, special enzymes are also needed to kickstart the fermentation process. With sugarcane, none of that is needed. Once the juice is extracted from the cane, yeast is added and the fermentation begins. No energy-intensive heating. No added water. No enzymes.

Eco-friendly distillation process

Our distillation process is mainly powered by the bagasse of the sugarcane, the residual fibers leftover after crushing the sugarcane. The bagasse is set on fire, which then provides the heat source for distillation. As a result, we rely far less on fossil fuels to power our stills. Every part of the cane is used to make our vodka, from start to finish.