A distillery with a history stretching over 140 years
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1872
It was founded in Falces by our great- great-grandfather, Pablo Esparza Velázquez de Carvajal who made eau-de-vies and wines. Among these was anisette, which in those days was sold under the brand, Pablo Esparza.
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1884
A wine made under the brand Pablo Esparza was served at a banquet in honour of King Alfonso XII, at the Palace of the Navarre Provincial Government. This wine was from the 1882 harvest, and we still keep two bottles.
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1918
The founder died and his two sons Teófilo and Pedro took over the business and turned it into the partnership “Hijos de Pablo Esparza”.
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1920
Anís Las Cadenas and the design of our truncated conical shaped bottle with “Cadenas” (chains) on its surface in relief is a registered trademark.
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1936-1939
In the Civil War supply of raw materials became a real odyssey. Our proximity to the border helped us keep making our products, but we had to use any bottle we could lay our hands on for containers.
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1940
We took over the company, Bodegas Navarras, which makes Ezcaba champagne. We became a public limited company. After the death of our great-grandfather Pedro in 1939, his son, our grandfather Pablo Esparza Lacunza, was the one to make this important transformation to the company.
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1965
The bottling process was mechanised and changes were made to the design of the Anís Las Cadenas bottle in order to comply with new technical specifications.
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1972-1974
We launched Pacharán Basarana and refurbished the premises where we made Ezcaba champagne. These changes were made by our father, Pablo Esparza Apat, which coincided with the centenary of the company. In this way, we began the slow maceration at rest period for two labels, Pacharán Basarana Etiqueta Negra and Pacharán Basarana Etiquette Blanca.
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1991
Esparza, our fruit liqueur range came out. First came sweet apple and peach. These were followed by green apple, hazelnut, melon and blackberry.
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1994
We launched our Basarana 20 sloe liqueur. We used the same method for creating our Pacharán Basarana. The only difference is we macerate the blackthorn for the sloe liqueur in anisette at 24º proof and that for Pacharán Basarana in anisette at 29º proof. The quantity of fruit and maceration time are the same.
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1997
Orujo was all the rage. We launched our orujo (grape eau-de-vies), herb liqueur and Las Cadenas honey liqueur.
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2000
Following the market trend, we launched our Pêche Mariette, Scotch Whisky with peach at only 18º proof.
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2002
We launched our Piña Mariette liqueur. It is our liqueur with the lowest alcohol content at 15º proof and combines the exquisite taste of pineapple with a dash of acidity, which makes it so tasty.
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2004
The latest change was made to the bottle design of Anis Las Cadenas, by rounding off the base of the bottle, which is what we have today.
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2019
2 new liqueurs were launched: Txupikola, a liqueur which has a surprising taste of cola with a hint of citric fruit and Txupirosa, made with a frantic combination of aniseed and strawberries.
