Alcoholado 101: A Puerto Rican Plant-Based Medicine-Making Workshop

Join us for a hands-on introduction to Puerto Rican alcoholado and the plant behind this traditional medicine.

Together, we’ll learn about alcoholado through an Afro-Indigenous Puerto Rican lens, focusing on malagueta leaf (Pimenta racemosa) and its place in Puerto Rican plant medicine. We’ll talk about how alcoholado has been carried through generations and within Puerto Rican communities before making our own to take home.

All materials will be provided. Each participant will make two small bottles of alcoholado, one to keep and one to give as a gift.

This workshop is open to all community members. No previous experience is needed. Come learn about this living tradition, make alcoholado with us, and carry a little of this knowledge home.

What is Alcholado?

Alcoholado is a traditional Puerto Rican medicine made by infusing alcohol with plants and other natural ingredients. Its practice comes from generations of Puerto Rican community knowledge, with deep Afro-Indigenous roots.

Alcoholado is traditionally used on the body. It can be rubbed onto the skin or used as part of a massage to care for sore muscles, aches, headaches, and other everyday discomforts. Many Puerto Rican families and communities have their own ways of preparing and using alcoholado, and recipes can vary depending on what plants and knowledge have been passed down.

For this workshop, we’ll focus on “malagueta” leaf (Pimenta racemosa), also known as “bay rum.” Malagueta has a long history of use in Caribbean plant medicine and is an important part of Puerto Rican traditions of working with plants for care and healing.