Constitutional Court Ends "Guaro" Monopoly
The "Cacique guaro", the national drink distilled from sugar cane, will now no longer be a monopoly of the Fábrica Nacional de Licores (Fanal) following a Sala Constitucional (Constitutional Court) decision.

The court voted against the monopoly on the distribution of the alcoholic beverage that has been for ever in the hands of the Fanal, a state agency. The court magistrates believed that the "executive decree" that gave Fanal the exclusive rights, is not justified and there are no reasons for it to keep the privilege.

With the Constitutional Court decision, anyone who wants to import, produce and sell a product labelled as "guaro", can do so.

Carlos Villalobos, administrator of Fanal, feels that the Constitutional Court decision goes against the health of consumers for the guaro. Villalobos explained that with the court decision, the quality of the drink is compromised and consumers don't know what they are getting, unlike the guaro produced by the state agency.

"The problem is serious, as producers are not obligated to purchase the raw produce from the state agency and will evidently affect quality", said Villalobos.

The court decision not only frees the market of the monopoly but now Cacique will have to compete with products like the Colombian "agua ardiente". For the long time "agua ardiente" has been available on the Costa Rican market as long as it was labelled and sold as an "aperitif".

With the Constitutional Court decision, the agua ardiente or "fire water" can flow freely.

Cacique Guaro is a liquor made from sugar cane. It is a generic name in spanish for aguardiente de cana. Cacique Guaro is the original guaro made in Costa Rica. It is made with only the freshest ingredients and using the hightest quality standards. It is a carefully filtered highly purified cane brandy with a unique fresh extra smooth taste that can only be explained by the person tasting it.

Aguardiente is the Spanish generic name for alcoholic drinks between 40 and 45 percent alcohol, meaning "fiery water", or, literally "burning water"[ (as it "burns" the throat of the drinker).

In Mexico it consists of a mix of rum and mezcal, and was supposedly drunk by Mexican leader Antonio López de Santa Anna at the Alamo.

In Colombia, aguardiente is an anise-flavoured drink derived from sugar cane, popular in the Andean region. Departments hold the rights to produce it, but aguardiente produced in one region can be sold in another. By adding different amounts of aniseed, different flavours are obtained, leading to extensive marketing and fierce competition between brands.

Aguardiente has a 29% alcohol content.