Aguardiente Amarillo Explained, Colombia’s Yellow Spirit

COLOMBIA · AGUARDIENTE AMARILLO

Aguardiente amarillo is a yellow, anise-flavoured sugarcane spirit made by Industria Licorera de Caldas (ILC), the liquor company of Colombia’s Caldas department. Its registered strength is 24% alcohol, and a court ruling on 4 February 2025 ended the rule that let departments block it.

For US readers, this guide explains what the drink is, why big cities once kept it out, and how much tax a bottle carries. ILC says its sales to the United States rose 85% in the first half of 2026.

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What Aguardiente Amarillo Is

Aguardiente is Colombia’s best-known anise-flavoured spirit, and several departments make their own versions. Amarillo, Spanish for yellow, is the brand from Caldas that stands out for its colour.

The full name is Aguardiente Amarillo de Manzanares, after the town of Manzanares in Caldas. ILC makes it in Manizales, the department’s capital, at a plant on the Vía Magdalena industrial zone.

The published recipe combines caña gorobeta sugarcane, anise grown on the Cerro Guadalupe hill and water from the source of the Río Santo Domingo. The usual explanation for the yellow tint is that early artisanal batches were never fully pure, and ILC kept the colour on purpose.

Strength, Label and Legal Age

Invima, Colombia’s food and drug regulator, renewed the brand’s sanitary registration L-0005 for 10 years on 20 February 2024. The registration lists 24% alcohol by volume, with a tolerance of one degree either way.

An earlier renewal in 2014 had listed 32% alcohol, so older sources may quote a higher strength. The 2024 resolution allows bottle sizes of 250, 375, 750 and 1,000 millilitres.

Colombian law bars the sale of liquor to minors, and ILC’s website asks visitors to confirm they are 18 or older. The site also carries the standard warning that excess alcohol harms health.

Where It Comes From

The story begins in 1885 in Manzanares, Caldas, with a farmer named Camilo Jiménez who sold a distinctive liquor in nearby villages. He carried it in barrels on a mule.

ILC now owns the brand and the recipe. Today Amarillo is one of the company’s main aguardientes, alongside Cristal.

Why Big Cities Were Closed to It

Law 1816 of 2016, which sets Colombia’s state liquor monopoly, let a department that makes aguardiente suspend permits for rival aguardientes from other regions. A suspension could last up to six years.

Each department with a monopoly issues permits to bring liquor in, so a suspension shut the door on outside brands. The law justified the measure as protection against serious harm to local production.

Cundinamarca, the department around Bogotá, revoked ILC’s permit, and Amarillo left that market for two years. ILC had been selling about 3.5 million bottle-equivalents a year there before the ban.

ILC’s manager calls Bogotá and Cundinamarca the second most important aguardiente market in Colombia, at about 15 million bottles a year. That is why the permit fight mattered far beyond one brand.

The Court Ruling That Opened the Market

On 4 February 2025 the Constitutional Court, Colombia’s top constitutional court, struck down the first two paragraphs of Article 28 of Law 1816. The decision is Judgment C-032 of 2025, written by Justice Jorge Enrique Ibáñez Najar.

Five of the nine judges backed the decision and four dissented. The majority found that the rule violated free competition, which Article 333 of the Constitution protects.

It also found that the rule removed consumers’ freedom to choose a supplier and ignored the strict legal limits on state monopolies in Article 336. The court declined to postpone the effects of its decision.

From then on, departments could no longer use that article to suspend permits for outside aguardientes. The ruling works both ways, because rival aguardientes cannot be blocked from Caldas under it either.

How the Market Reopened

After the ruling, ILC won permits department by department. When Cundinamarca’s finance secretariat granted a 10-year permit for Bogotá and its department, Nariño, Caquetá, Antioquia and Cauca had already reopened to the brand.

In Antioquia, which ILC calls the country’s largest aguardiente market, the company announced a first shipment of one million bottle-equivalents. About 240,000 of them left Manizales on Monday 2 June 2025.

On 31 October 2025 ILC announced a 10-year permit from the governor’s office of Valle del Cauca, the department around Cali. ILC calls it the third-largest aguardiente market in the country.

Sales and Profit Figures

ILC sold more than 50 million bottle-equivalents of 750 millilitres in 2025, the best year in its history of more than 120 years. In 2024 it had sold 39.2 million.

Those totals cover all ILC brands, including Cristal aguardiente and Ron Viejo de Caldas rum, not Amarillo alone. Sales of Amarillo on its own are not confirmed.

In the first half of 2026 ILC sold 25,700,604 bottle-equivalents, up 56% on the first half of 2025. Exports reached 1,548,632 units, up 60%, with sales to the United States up 85% and to Europe up 80%.

At 3,164 pesos per US$ (31 October 2026), operating revenue of COP 250,974 million was about US$79.3 million, up 55.3%. Net profit rose to COP 45,000 million (about US$14.2 million) from COP 19,243 million (about US$6.1 million).

ILC’s general manager, Diego Angelillis Quiceno, credits the growth to Amarillo’s consolidation in the markets that opened after the ruling. He also credits the strength of Ron Viejo de Caldas, the company’s rum.

Tax: What Is in the Price

Liquor in Colombia carries a consumption tax with two parts, set by Article 20 of Law 1816 of 2016. One part is a fixed amount per degree of alcohol in a 750-millilitre bottle, and the other is 25% of the shelf price before taxes.

The fixed part rises each year with inflation, and the Finance Ministry must certify the new amount before 1 January. For 2026, Certification 003 of 9 December 2025 set it at COP 360 per degree (about US$0.11), up from COP 342 in 2025.

At the registered strength of 24 degrees, the fixed part comes to COP 8,640 (about US$2.73) on a 750-millilitre bottle. The 25% part uses a shelf price certified by DANE, Colombia’s statistics office, and that price is not confirmed here.

By law the consumption tax revenue goes to the departments. The total tax on one bottle of Amarillo is not known.

The Tax Decree That Fell

On 29 December 2025 the government issued Legislative Decree 1474 under a declared economic emergency. It would have charged VAT of 19% on liquors and changed the liquor consumption tax rates.

On 29 January 2026 the Constitutional Court suspended the decree by Order 084. On 15 April 2026, in Judgment C-079 of 2026, it declared the decree unconstitutional.

The court acted because it had already struck down the emergency declaration itself, in Judgment C-075 of 2026. A decree issued under a void emergency has no legal basis.

The court ordered DIAN, the national tax authority, to return indirect taxes paid under the decree to people who prove they paid them. Whether Congress will pass a new liquor tax law is not known.

What It Means for You

Visitors can find Amarillo in far more places than before 2025, because departments can no longer block it under Article 28. Buy from licensed shops and bars, and look for the Invima registration number, which for this brand is L-0005.

ILC lists the United States, Europe and Central America among its fastest-growing export markets. Its sales to Central America and the Caribbean rose 227% in the first half of 2026.

For investors, ILC’s results show how far one court ruling reshaped Colombia’s spirits market. Our Colombia coverage, Medellín city guide and Pasto Carnival guide place the drink in its wider setting.

What Is Not Known

Every sales and profit figure here comes from ILC’s own announcements. Audited accounts and Amarillo’s separate sales are not confirmed.

The year ILC acquired the brand and the recipe is not confirmed, because histories give different years. The shelf price certified by DANE, and so the full tax on a bottle, is also not confirmed.

Whether any department still blocks the brand is not confirmed. Whether the 10-year permits stay in force for their full term is also not known.

What Comes Next

The Finance Ministry must publish the 2027 fixed tax amount before 1 January 2027. It rises with the inflation that DANE certifies to 30 November 2026.

ILC’s results for the full year 2026 will show whether it keeps its record pace after the first half’s 56% rise. A release date is not confirmed.

Makers from other departments can now sell in Caldas on equal terms. How that changes ILC’s home sales is not known.

More: Colombia news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is aguardiente amarillo?

Aguardiente amarillo is a yellow, anise-flavoured sugarcane spirit made by Industria Licorera de Caldas in Manizales. Its full name is Aguardiente Amarillo de Manzanares.

How strong is aguardiente amarillo?

Invima, Colombia’s food and drug regulator, registered it at 24% alcohol by volume, give or take one degree, on 20 February 2024. An earlier 2014 renewal listed 32%.

Why is aguardiente amarillo yellow?

The usual explanation is that early artisanal batches were never fully pure, and the maker kept the yellow tint on purpose. No laboratory statement on the colour is published.

Can I buy aguardiente amarillo across Colombia?

Since the Constitutional Court’s ruling of 4 February 2025, departments can no longer block it with Article 28. Each department still issues its own entry permits, so availability depends on the place.

How much tax is on a bottle of aguardiente amarillo?

For 2026 the fixed tax is COP 360 per alcohol degree (about US$0.11), or COP 8,640 (about US$2.73) at 24 degrees. A further 25% applies to the shelf price.

Can I buy aguardiente amarillo in the United States?

ILC exports it, and the company says its sales to the United States rose 85% in the first half of 2026. Which stores carry it is not confirmed.

Sources: Constitutional Court of Colombia, Judgment C-032 of 2025 (4 February 2025), 4 February 2025; Constitutional Court of Colombia, Judgment C-079 of 2026, 15 April 2026; Senate of Colombia, Law 1816 of 2016 (liquor monopoly and consumption tax), 2016; Invima, Resolution 2024006909, sanitary registration L-0005 Aguardiente Amarillo de Manzanares, 20 February 2024; Industria Licorera de Caldas, company website, 2 November 2026.

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief