La Aurora has announced a new collaboration with Trails of the Cocktails centered around its E. León Jimenes 1903 rum, introducing a four-part seasonal cocktail program for 2026.

Trails of the Cocktails, founded in 2022 by Joseph Michalek and Colby Munck, works with craft spirits brands to develop curated beverage programs and experiential events. Under the new partnership, the group has created four cocktails designed to highlight different aspects of the 8-year, linearly aged E. León Jimenes 1903 rum, which is distilled from fresh sugarcane juice (guarapo) and finished in sherry casks.

The seasonal lineup includes:

Rum & Stout Flip – Winter
León de la Jungla – Spring
E. León Jimenes Grapefruit Swizzle – Summer
E. León Jimenes Boulevardier – Fall

According to Tony Suarez, Director of Sales for Caribbean Sunrise Spirits, LLC, the importer of record for E. León Jimenes rums, the production process plays a key role in how the rum performs in cocktails.

“Because our rums are made from fresh sugarcane juice (guarapo) rather than molasses, they tend to show a cleaner, less sweet profile—making them a great fit for more spirit-forward cocktails,” says Suarez.

Joseph Michalek of Trails of the Cocktails said the team aimed to move beyond traditional expectations for rum-based drinks.

“When developing cocktails with E. Leon Jimenes 1903, we wanted to not just think, but jump outside of the box that a lot of people put rum into. When you first take a sip of 1903, you immediately experience this freshness coupled with a clean finish that you do not normally get with Rum; and this is something you can really only get by using Guarapo (fresh sugar cane juice),” said Michalek. “The lack of heating and cooking down the sugarcane prior to fermentation, the five column distillation technique allowing for the more delicate and often lost flavors to shine through, and a linear aging process to again keep a lot of nuances that tend to be lost in other aging processes give you this end result that feels so universal in flavor and yet stands out on its own that there really is no substitute.”

The cocktails are designed to roll out throughout 2026, each tailored to seasonal flavor profiles—from warmer, spice-driven builds in winter to lighter, citrus-forward expressions in summer. The program is expected to appear at events and through brand-driven activations over the course of the year.

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