Ron Colon Salvadoreno Red Banana Oleo

Ron Colon Salvadoreno Red Banana Oleo is a tiki-bar cocktail that became a bottle — a 40.5% ABV (81 proof) 750mL banana rum from the Ron Colón Salvadoreño house, built on their aged dark rum infused with macerated and distilled dried bananas, fresh banana peels, and a touch of sugarcane syrup. During the pandemic, brand ambassador Steph DiCamillo's virtual-tasting cocktail — dark rum, banana oleo saccharum, chocolate, and tiki bitters — was so good the brand turned it into a standalone spirit. Difford's Guide's verdict: "Simply brilliant!" Available to order online at Del Mesa Liquor, San Diego, CA.

• ABV / size: 40.5% ABV (81 proof) — 750mL
• Style: flavored banana rum / rum liqueur — NOT a straight aged rum
• Base: Ron Colón Salvadoreño Dark Aged rum, infused with macerated AND distilled dried red bananas plus fresh peels, sweetened with sugarcane syrup (oleo saccharum method)
• Bananas: red bananas from the Jags Head Coffee farm in El Salvador, where they shade the coffee plants
• Origin: El Salvador (brand identity); bottled in the Netherlands per Difford's Guide

From Zoom Cocktail to Shelf Bottle

Some products are engineered; this one was improvised. In the middle of pandemic-era virtual tastings, Steph DiCamillo mixed Ron Colón's dark rum with banana oleo saccharum, chocolate, and tiki bitters — and the drink was good enough to become a product. The red bananas matter: sweeter than yellow bananas, with a berry-like edge somewhere between plantain and Cavendish, grown on a Salvadoran coffee farm where the trees shade the coffee plants. Dried bananas are both macerated and distilled, fresh peels go in too, and sugarcane syrup ties it together. The result drinks like a Red Banana Daiquiri that mixed itself. Explore more rum or the full Ron Colon range at Del Mesa.

Tasting Notes

Difford's Guide (sampled December 2023): clear golden amber; nose of tropical fruit, overripe banana, and lightly funky aged rum; palate of caramelised overripe banana with delicate cacao, fortified by lightly funky pot-still rum; a lingering aftertaste of coffee, cacao, caramelised banana, and spiritous pepper. "Delicious sipped neat, but even better in a Red Banana Daiquiri."

How to Enjoy

Sip it neat to taste the banana-and-cacao architecture — then make the Red Banana Daiquiri: 2oz Red Banana Oleo, ¾oz lime juice, ¼oz demerara syrup, shaken and strained. It also supercharges any tiki drink that calls for banana liqueur.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this a liqueur or a rum?
It's a flavored rum in the liqueur style — aged rum infused with banana and sweetened with sugarcane syrup, bottled at 40.5% ABV.

What is oleo saccharum?
An old bartender's technique: citrus (or here, banana) peels macerated with sugar to extract the flavor oils into a concentrated syrup.

What are red bananas?
A sweeter banana variety with berry-like notes, grown on the Jags Head Coffee farm in El Salvador, where the trees shade coffee plants.

The tiki cocktail that bottled itself — get Ron Colon Red Banana Oleo at Del Mesa Liquor in San Diego, CA.