Venezuela is a large country with a very diverse landscape including beaches, plains, mountains, jungles and desert. It's possible to set off to a perfect beach in the morning and then ski down a mountain in the afternoon without leaving the country. So where to site a distillery?

A number of factors influenced Seagram's choice of a site just outside the town of La Miel in Lara state, besides the town itself providing a local workforce. The first influencing factor was the five sugar processing plants nearby three lying within an 80km area: the neighbouring Lara sugar refinery; the second lying in Yaracuy state to the east; the third in Portuguesa state to the south. These three refineries supply some 80% of DUSA's molasses.

The area is surrounded by forestry reserves so Terepaima National Park provides a plentiful supply of very pure water carried in aquifers which supply the distillery's five 100 metre wells. This water has a low 200ppm mineral content so no treatment is necessary for use in fermentation or distillation.

Average temperatures during the day of 30-31˚C drop by 6-7˚C at night and this temperature differential, coupled with high humidity, helps sugar cane growth: it concentrates the sugars in the cane and favours the ageing process. Incidentally, it also makes for one of the hottest and most sauna-like still rooms I have ever been in. Escaping to the air-conditioned control room which houses the computers that control the column stills was an indescribable relief.