Featured image for Rum-Based Casalú Brings 'Sabor' To Hard Seltzer

Rum-Based Casalú Brings 'Sabor' To Hard Seltzer

by Rudy Sanchez on 03/31/2022 | 2 Minute Read

It might seem like there is a hard seltzer for everyone, but friends Ricardo Sucre, Gabriel Gonzalez, and Gustavo Darquea found a surprising lack of rum-based, Latin-inspired seltzers with an authentic flavor familiar to the trio.

So, they just did it themselves and introduced Casalú to the world.

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“The idea for Casalú began with Ricardo and his dislike for beer. When the seltzer boom started, he found his drink, though none spoke to him, and didn’t use rum the way he liked,” Gonzalez said via press release. “Ricardo started experimenting at home with dark-aged rum and a SodaStream, and that’s how Casalú was born. It just clicked. For us, it didn't make any sense that we could identify a brand with clear Latin roots in every alcohol and liquor category but none that resonated in the seltzer space. So we decided to finally get together and launch the company to bring an authentically Latino seltzer to the market.”

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Casalú is Miami-based, one of America’s most diverse cities, with a mix of Caribbean and Latino cultures and a sizeable immigrant population. The design from Hi Dive Studio's Lauren Childs has a Latino-forward, Miami-remixed style with a color palette dominated by the same lush vegetal hues one would experience in many parts of Latin America and Florida. Instead of the same stark and drab white seen on many seltzer brands, Casalú opts for a more organic beige. Reinforcing authenticity is the wordmark and secondary type, reminiscent of hand-drawn signs across Latin America.

Editorial photograph
Editorial photograph

The branding and packaging feel authentic, even down to Spanglish and Latin slang in the copy. “Tropicalation,” for example, is a little English, a little Spanish, but a new word to express the feeling of being surrounded by friends and family, according to Casalú. The brand story on the back of the label seamlessly flows from English to Spanish in a way that feels authentic to Latinos in the US.

Editorial photograph
Editorial photograph

In a hard seltzer world full of adult contemporary and yacht rock, Casalú is reggaeton; it’s salsa, Latin jazz.

Casalú hard seltzer just launched and can be found in the Miami area.

Photography: Sofía Perazzo

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