Guatemala is widely known not only for being the home of the earliest Maya civilization but also for its rums. The Centro American country has a long history of exporting sugar cane and a rum tradition of more than 100 years.

The origins of sugar cane in the country dates back to the sixteenth century when Christopher Columbus brought the first plants to the new continent. After the conquest, the sugar cane began to be cultivated in 1536 in Amatitlán.

The beginning of the production of sugar involved learning how to cultivate it and the construction of sugar mills for its processing and refining. In the mid-seventeenth century, Maya peoples in highland Guatemala developed new techniques and incorporated sugar into honey-based alcoholic drinks by building upon the pre-Hispanic production of fermented beverages from honey, maguey cactus, and maize.