Bad Bunny’s Go-To Drink Is Puerto Rican Heritage in a Glass

Puerto Rico is the rum capital of the world. The birthplace of powerhouse distilleries Bacardi and Don Q, plus niche brands like Caribe Rum and Ron del Barrilito, the island is responsible for more than 70% of the rum sold in the U.S.

But Bad Bunny, a Puerto Rico native and newly minted Album of the Year winner, celebrates an even more potent, smaller-production spirit that is enjoyed by the greater Puerto Rican diaspora: pitorro. A moonshine rum whose history dates back centuries, this potent distillate is traditionally infused with raisins, prunes, and cinnamon, and is sometimes finished with fruitier flavors ranging from coconut to mango. But don’t let those ingredients fool you—the stuff is strong, typically clocking in at 80 to 100 proof. When Bad Bunny brought a bottle on The Tonight Show and tossed back shots with host Jimmy Fallon, he described the spirit as “another level” and advised Fallon to “be careful.”

And Bad Bunny’s pitorro marketing campaign didn’t stop there—“Pitorro de Coco” was released as the 13th song and second single on the singer’s most recent album, Debì Tirar Más Fotos (I Should Have Taken More Photos), which took home the 2026 Grammy award for Album of the Year. As the first Spanish-language album to receive that designation, the significance of the win can’t be overstated. And with all eyes on his upcoming Super Bowl LX halftime show, another unprecedented achievement for a Latin performer, Bad Bunny’s performance is poised to be a landmark moment for Puerto Rican pride. Like the show itself, pitorro is more than a drink: it’s a celebration of the island’s heritage.

From Local Secret to Global Phenomenon

Crystal Rivera, who launched Maryland’s Puerto Rico Distillery in 2020 alongside her father, Angel, sees pitorro as a way to stay connected to the island and their heritage. “All of our family is still down there, so it was important that we were exposed to the culture, that we were connected with our family,” says Rivera. “And when we got to an age appropriate level, learning about the tradition of pitorro became part of that education.”

Their line, Clandestino Pitorro, is a nod to the storied legacy of the spirit, which has been documented as far back as 1797. In its early days, pitorro was made secretly, deep in the island’s remote highlands, in its simplest form: using cane juice from fresh sugarcane, with no additional flavoring imparted by fruits or spices.

“That is how my great-grandfather’s generation would have been drinking it. They would have been working long hard days in the field, then want to cut straight to the punch,” says Rivera. “Economically, times were tougher, so any extra food was going to the family, not your hobby. Then, in my abuela’s generation, things start to get a little easier.”

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She notes that this was also around the same time that the United States started bringing over shelf-stable ingredients, which introduced the common use of raisins and prunes to add subtle sweetness and depth. While often enjoyed neat, pitorro is also a staple in the popular Puerto Rican Christmas cocktail, coquito.

Rivera’s grandparents’ recipe is used for their Traditional Clandestino, a blend infused with raisins, prunes, and cranberries. ”It makes for a very smooth, mellow sipping rum,” she says. “For people who say ‘I’m not really a rum drinker, I’m more of a brandy drinker,’ or who are whiskey drinkers, traditional pitorro has that level of complexity that those drinkers tend to like. I pitch that as a gateway flavor.”

Clandestino’s distillery has welcomed visitors from across the country who, like Rivera, feel connected to Puerto Rico through the high-proof rum.

‘Pitorro Is a Rum, But Not Any Rum Can Be Pitorro’

Waldemar Caraballo, originally from Puerto Rico’s southern coast, can remember going with his uncle into the woods to buy a gallon of pitorro as a kid. “It was illegal—it’s still illegal if you make it in the home, or in the woods, the mountains, or even in the mangroves on the beach,” he says. But the island’s cocktail culture, however illicit, was a part of Caraballo’s youth, as his father owned a bar in their little beach town where Waldemar helped out as a young teen.

Now settled just west of Reading, Pennsylvania, Caraballo decided to open Casa W Distillery, where he produces several different flavors of pitorro. The rawest pitorro, just like moonshine, can be overpowering—and at 80 to 100 proof, can “burn” going down, he says. But Caraballo knew it didn’t have to be that way. “I started my investigation on what they used not 50 years ago, but 300 years ago,” he says. His years of practice finally yielded their baseline Pitorro Blanco Rum, made with a blend of molasses, partially refined sugar, and cane juice from Puerto Rico. The blend was awarded USA Spirits Ratings’ 2025 Gold Medal, citing its “bold, spicy palate with candied tropical fruit and green peppercorn, finishing long with warmth and complexity that lingers beautifully.”

Today, Casa W has five flavored pitorros that all begin with the Pitorro Blanco Rum base but grow into so much more, including renditions infused with coconut, pineapple, and tamarind. Caraballo’s mantra is, “Pitorro is a rum, but not any rum can be pitorro.”

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