Liquor Wine Tasting in Intramuros : Another Interesting Intramuros Museum
When I hear of museums, I get a flashback to my elementary years when I had to go into museums for field trips, and listen to boring discussions by the tour guides. Museums for me are hit or miss, there are those that I enjoy and those that I get bored. Usually, I prefer the interactive ones. Destileria Limtuaco Museum is the oldest distillery in the Philippines and this museum is definitely an interactive one.
But hiding inside this walled city, is a museum that is far from boring and uneventful – the Destileria Limtuaco Museum, a museum for the liquor history of the country.
And who knew they provide liquor tastings too?
Brief History and Description
The Destileria Limtuaco Museum is located inside the walled city of Intramuros.
It is famed for being the oldest liquor distillery in the whole country.
It started its service in 1979 but the museum was only opened on February last year (2018)
What’s it like inside?
Dadapilan Machine
Upon entering the museum, the first thing that you will witness will be the manufacture of sugarcane using Dadapilan. The Dadapilan machinery has a cylindrical compartment, to which you feed the sugar cane stalks in. The sugar cane stalks will be crushed until the juice of the stalk eventually comes out from the machine. The Dadapilan used to be a manual machine, in which, they needed a carabao to turn the machine and crush the stalks. But nowadays, we have modern technology to cover for the carabao.
Chinese Liquor
Once lifting your eyes from the Dadapilan machine, you will clearly see Chinese influence in the early alcohol that is displayed.
One of the most notable Chinese liquors displayed is the Sic Hong Tong.
Sic Hoc Tongis the name of the alcohol made from 14 herbs and spices.
But it has now been renamed into two alcohol brandings:
- Kung Fu for Vigor and vitality for men; and
- Vino de Chino for blood circulation for women
During the tour, you will also get to see a mini-distillery – wherein, you can learn about the process of how they make their alcohol.
The mini-distillery contained a small fermentation talk, a still pit that receives from the tank condenser and the barrels that are used to age the liquor.
They also showed us the barrels that they used and discussed the two kinds:
- Barrel with Oakwood to evaporate faster
- Square Barrel with American Oakwood to maintain color and flavor while having a faster aging process
Shelf System
Inside the museum is a shelf display for all the liquor labels that the museum carries. Along with these liquor labels are calendars, advertisements and other memorabilia which shows the progression and evolution of the bottle label designs since the first initial release up to the latest rebranding.
White Castle
They dreamed about the model, and they drew it. Upon drawing, they decided to put it in an alcohol bottle. That’s how the White Castle alcohol came to be.
White Castle models or ‘calendar girls’ sporting the infamous red bikinis can be found in the shelf-display of liquor-related media and advertisement during the 1990s. Some of you might recognize them as Lorna Tolentino, Carmi Martin, Critina Gonzalez, Glydel Mercado and most recently, Meg Imperial.
Rates and Prices
- For students, persons with disabilities (PWDs) and senior citizens, the price is 50 pesos
- For other visitors who are neither students, PWDs or senior citizens, the entrance fee is 100 pesos
This entrance fee does not include the fee for the liquor tasting.
If you wish to experience the liquor tasting, you will have to pay an additional 100 pesos for all kinds of visitors.
This liquor tasting includes six shots: two Gaz (mixed cocktails) and four alcohol of your choice.
If you want to avail another glass of the same (or different drink) then you can get it for another 100 pesos, not including the two Gaz drinks.
What I Tried in the Liquor Museum
For my liquor tasting, I tried the following drinks. I’ve included here what they taste like, to give you an idea on what drinks to try.
Strawberry Margaritas
this is a type of Gaz (mixed drink) that looked like fruit juice at first glance. To me, it tasted like the fruity and light taste of a favorite childhood treat of mine – the Jellyace.
Fresh Apple Vodka Base
this too, tasted like Jellyace to me. It was a slightly stronger alcoholic taste than the strawberry margarita. It’s like a Jellyace for adults, in liquid form.
Mango Liquefy,
I’ve been told that this drink if famous in the island paradise of Boracay. I get why. It’s light and sweet and goes down easily.
Amadeo
this has four types of coffee inside of it. You can definitely taste the kapeng barako (black coffee) in it. It made me feel awake and had a strong coffee kick by the end.
White Castle whiskey aged for five years
this whiskey is whole, hot and stays in your mouth for a while. This drink is a bit hardcore and I do not recommend it for those who have low alcohol tolerance. The heat and all lingers for awhile.
Very old Captain
compared to the five-year-old White Castle whiskey, I like this more. They have similar taste but this goes down easier than the White Castle Whiskey.
Intramuros
tastes like Kahlua or Baileys during the tasting, this emerged as everyone’s favorite. It had the taste of eggnog (not the snack) but just slightly sweeter with a bit of more alcoholic taste.
Dragon Fire
I didn’t get to taste this one but most of my friends who did said that it tasted like a stronger apple juice. It was light and delicious that it made my friend Maebel do a quick dance.
Operating Hours
Destileria Limtuaco Museum operates daily from 9:30AM-5:30PM. It opens at 9:00AM in the morning. But they still have to turn on the air conditioner to chill the place, and so I suggest to arrive at 9:30 onwards.
They close at 6:00 PM.
How to Get There
That was Destileria Limtuaco Museum in Intramuros, the oldest liquor distillery company in the country, and the only museum that offers affordable liquor tasting for the simple folks.
