The Internet Travel Guide "Getting to Know Cuba"

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The history of Bacardi Rum

Cuba, at the turn of the century: the Spanish wine merchant don Facundo Bacardi Massó emigrated from Catalonia to the romantic colonial town of Santiago de Cuba. At that time, rum was a strong unblended drink, usually distilled in a cheap way. Originally, this firewater was made for the buccaneers in the Caribbean. Thus, rum was hardly ever served in elegant restaurants or pubs.

don Facundo Bacardi Massó

In his spare time, Don Facundo experimented with different distilling methods at home. His goal was to radically improve the quality of the rum and turn it into a civilized drink. He experimented with every single step of the manufacturing process: the quality of the raw materials, the fermentation and the distillation. Finally, he added a new step to remove all impurities by charcoal mellowing. He continued his experiment by manipulating the aging process in oak barrels. Facundo documented his results meticulously and evaluated them critically. In the end he managed to develop exactly the kind of smooth drink he had always had in mind and which fulfilled his high expectations of quality. His rum was much smoother and more refined than all the others that were heavy, almost like medicine. Don Facundo's new, surprisingly light rum as well as his dark, full-bodied sipping rum were, by far, better than any other alcoholic drink he had every tasted.

Distillery

In order to commercialize his rum, he bought a small distillery with a corrugated metal roof and distilling flasks made of copper and wrought iron. A colony of fruit bats lived among the rafters of his first distillery. These animals were regarded as a sign of luck. Hence, they were allowed to stay and even became the new trademark of Bacardi Rum. On February 4, 1862, the "Bacardi y Compañia" was founded. Before long, its products would inspire kings and epicures around the world. Don Facundo not only changed rum itself, but also people's perception of this drink. A new rum was born.

One of the first newspaper ads for Bacardi

The last decade of the 19th century was highly dramatic for the Bacardi family. Emilio Bacardi was exiled to Spanish North Africa, because of anti-colonial activities, whereas his eldest son became a freedom fighter in the rebel army. His brothers Facundo and José and his stepbrother Henri Schueg remained in Cuba with the difficult task of running the company during the war years. While the women of the family took shelter in Kingston, Jamaica, Bacardi's wife Dõna Amalia passed away and ended the era of the founding generation.

Newspaper ad from 1943 - inspired by war events

After the revolution, Bacardi's entire property was nationalized. With the patent in his pocket, he and his family fled to Puerto Rico, where they had to start all over again. The Cuban government confiscated his factories and produced "Havana Club" there, a brand that had already existed.

Rum became even more popular around 1870 when the Americans invented artificially produced ice. Subsequently it became the drink, and several cocktails were created such as the Mojito and the Daiquiri; Hemingway's favorite drinks. At present, the national rum factory in Cagney produces 9 million liters of rum per year, only 20% of which stay in the country.