A Full Circle Ecosystem
Our priority will always be to have the smallest impact on the environment and the largest impact on the people and the community.
Meaningful Employment
Our ecosystem is based on offering the people of Punta Gorda rewarding and meaningful employment. Employment that honors them, the environment and its unique biodiversity, and renders rainforest deforestation for cultivation and unsustainable fishing unnecessary. We are now the largest non-government employer in Southern Belize, and pay a competitive wage.
Organic Agriculture
Organic agriculture not only benefits humans, it minimizes the impact on food sources. Thus, small and large mammals, like the endangered jaguars are given every chance to thrive. We take organic agriculture a step further than most. We subscribe to regenerative agricultural practices. The concept is simple: support the land to do what it is meant to do.
Resource Management
Our commitment to use and reuse any resources the environment bestows on us does not stop with organic farming. The semi-tropical climate allows us to collect rainwater in roof top cisterns and use it for proofing the rum. Over the course of a year we will collect and use 100,000 gallons of rainwater. This is the only water used in proofing Copalli Rums.
Designed For Zero Waste
Both the Distillery and the Farm were built to have as little impact as possible in their operation and resource use. Both are incentivized to use what they have to the fullest extent. For example: we don’t burn our fields but collect the sugar cane fiber and deadfall (bagasse) to fuel the distillery boilers and mix the left-over ash with the vinasse as fertilizer for the fields. We are big on taste, not waste.
Organic, Single Estate Rums
Rum you can feel great about. The quality of our rum is only as good as the ingredients used and how fresh they are when we use them. Copal Tree Farm’s organic sugar cane is pressed within 2 hours of harvesting. At the adjacent Copal Tree Distillery the fresh sugar cane juice along with rainwater, courtesy of our semi-tropical climate, and yeast ,to ferment the sugar cane juice, crafts Copalli Rum’s soft and fresh flavor profile.
Community Support
The brand’s founder has spearheaded philanthropic support for the community of Southern Belize for more than 20 years. This legacy of philanthropic support is built into the ownership structure of the Distillery using a Purpose Trust. The Distillery’s trust provides for the making of grants for the benefit of the people and communities within the Toledo District and its capital city Punta Gorda, in Southern Belize. Read more below…
Supporting the Community
Purpose Trust Grants: Health And Education
This legacy of philanthropic support is built into the ownership structure of the Distillery using a Purpose Trust, which provides for the making of grants for the benefit of the people and communities within the Toledo District of Belize and its largest town, Punta Gorda. The grants can be employed for a variety of philanthropic purposes, including, among others, the protection and enhancement of agricultural lands and fisheries environments, the advancement of culture and the arts, and the relief of sickness and preservation of health for the benefit of the public in the Toledo District of Belize and in Belize generally.
Specifically, Copalli Rum supports Hillside Health Care International, an NGO which brings free health care to Southern Belize, and Claver College Extension Program, an adult education program which aims to provide quality education to citizens of Toledo who need a second chance to finish their high school education.
Shining A Light on the Rich Culture of Belize
The “Battle of the Drums” is an annual event in Belize, and it is one we are proud to support. This cultural highlight has groups competing to best represent five different categories of Garifuna-style drumming: Hungu Hungu, Paranda, Gunjei, Punta and Punta Rock. Garifuna drumming mixes the musical flow of the Caribbean with traditional African instruments. And, once the drumming starts, we dare you not to dance!
Since the first Battle of the Drums in 2006, the event has evolved into an International competition that welcomes groups from Belize, Guatemala and Honduras.
More than a vibrant source of entertainment, the Battle of the Bands supports the preservation of the Garifuna culture and community – including a summer camp for kids, programs to teach the Garifuna language and drums in primary schools.
Rainforest Trust Proud Member
Sustainability and responsible practices are a large part of who we are and how we operate. Given this focus it felt natural to support the Rainforest Trust and become a member of their Conservation Circle, which supports and protects endangered species, threatened rainforests, and other tropical ecosystems around the world. The Rainforest Trust’s newest project is one we took to heart — to build a Jaguar Corridor in Belize.
The corridor will connect the vast 13.3-million-acre Maya Forest that stretches across Northwest Belize, Guatemala and Southern Mexico with the 1.2 million acre Maya Mountains Massif in Southern Belize. Together these refuges form the largest intact tropical forest in the Americas, north of the Amazon, and protect countless threatened species.
Jaguars have been documented moving between the two protected areas and establishing a safe corridor is vital for ensuring that Jaguars and their resident prey, as well as countless other endangered species, continue to thrive.
To find out more, visit the Rainforest Trust website.
Try Our Delicious Cocktails
Copalli Rainforest Daiquiri
Feel the spirit of the forest with this cocktail recipe. Distilled from organic sugar cane and rainwater from the rainforest, it lives up to its name.
Make This!
Jaguar Old Fashioned
An Old Fashioned is a true classic cocktail. Traditionally made with whiskey, our Barrel Rested Rum is a game changer with three simple ingredients.
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Espresso Martini
This unique Espresso Martini is one of a kind. A classic recipe replacing vodka with Cacao Rum. Impressive at first glance! This is the perfect drink to begin a night of celebrations.
Make This!