If you are thinking of buying some Canarian alcohol to enjoy back home, the sweet Malvasia wines from Lanzarote are really your best bet. You can find them in most supermarkets and even at Gran Canaria Airport. However, if wine is not your thing, the honey rum made from our local sugarcane is as traditional as it can be. I typically have it neat, as a digestif, and in that capacity, it was served in the gastronomical stands at Parque Doramas in Chapter 5—at least until Yaiza finished off the last bottle by herself!

My favorite brand is “Indias,” originally owned by Artemi but now appropriated by its parent company, Arehucas. I have bought tons of these 50cl rum bottles over the years to bring as gifts to my UK friends. You have probably seen the bottle around too. It’s sold almost everywhere, and the label is easy to spot. It shows a Native American sullenly looking at (what I assume are) Columbus’ three approaching caravels. In my first draft, Lund saw the bottle of “Indias” lying around and reflected on the label’s brazen colonial theme as he was recovering from Yaiza’s mojo prank.

Maybe the Arehucas people also realized how bold the design was (I mean, by contemporary standards) because they recently changed the art to a tamer version. The composition is the same, but I’m darn sure Farhad Nilsson would have preferred the original one. See for yourself.

Anyway, for pacing reasons, I removed this content from Chapter 5 and moved it to Chapter 14, inside the Guigui tent. The honey rum Arminda drinks is the higher-end “Guanche” brand, also by Arehucas, but in the novel, it retains the “Indias” label design reimagined as a Guanche king during the Spanish Conquest of Gran Canaria.