Research Into The History Of Bacardi

In the beautiful port city of Santiago de Cuba, a small family enterprise purchases a distillery and revolutionizes rum-making on February 4, 1862...

150 years ago, the great Don Facundo Bacardí Massó first began selling his revolutionary BACARDÍ Rum in Santiago de Cuba. Now, seven generations later, Bacardi remains a family owned business and continue to make history as the world’s best selling rum.


Pioneering a new style of rum 

In the late 1800s, Cuba’s emerging middle class desired a rum more refined than the murky pirate rum found on the island. Recognizing the need for a rum more pleasing to the palette, Don Facundo Bacardí Massó pioneered a new distilling process that would revolutionize how rum was made around the world and would go on to inspire some of the world’s most beloved cocktails.

The Prophecy of El Coco

When the first distillery was opened, a coconut palm was planted at its entrance. Nurtured by the Bacardí family it survived earthquakes, wars and distillery fires leading to the prophecy that the company would survive in Cuba as long as ‘El Coco’ lived. In 1960, the year that the Bacardí family was exiled from Cuba, El Coco died. Today, a coconut palm is planted at every Bacardí Company facility to remind us of our Cuban heritage. 

An Icon is born

In the early years of BACARDÍ production, Doña Amalia Moreau, Don Facundo Bacardi’s wife discovered a colony of fruit bats living in the rafters of their humble tin-roofed distillery. She recognized the significance of the bat in both Spanish and local folklore; the bat had long since been associated with good health, fortune and family unity. She convinced her husband to use the bat as an icon on every bottle of his rum and it quickly became a symbol of quality amongst Cuba’s mainly illiterate population. BACARDÍ had become ‘El Ron del Murciélago’ (the Rum of the Bat).

Bacardi wins its first award 
At the same Philadelphia Centennial Exposition where Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone was first unveiled, BACARDÍ Rum won its first International Award for product quality and innovation. Today BACARDÍ Rum is proud to be the World’s most awarded rum.

The King of rums and the rum of kings

Having been awarded a gold medal for product quality at the Barcelona Exhibition of 1888, the Queen Regent of Spain Maria Cristina named BACARDÍ Rum as Purveyors of the Spanish Royal Household. BACARDÍ Rum became known as the ‘King of Rums and the Rum of Kings’.

The fight for Cuban independence 
Don Facundo’s sons were all major contributors to the Cuban struggle for independence from Spain. His eldest son, Emilio Bacardí Moreau, was arrested and exiled twice for anti-colonial activities. But In 1889, he became the freely elected Mayor of Santiago de Cuba and would later become a Senator. He would go on to build schools, hospitals, public parks and a municipal museum in Santiago.

Bringing sophisticated drinking to the masses

In the mining town of Daiquirí, Cuba, an American mining engineer named Jennings Stockton Cox invented a cocktail using BACARDÍ Rum, fresh lime, sugar and ice. After enjoying the drink with his friends, he named it ‘Ron BACARDÍ a la Daiquirí’. It was the perfect cocktail to enjoy after a long, hot day at the mine and ironically, brought sophisticated drinking to the rest of the world.

The Cuba Libre: A toast to independence 

The first BACARDÍ and Cola was invented at the time of Cuba’s independence following the Spanish American War some time in the early 1900’s. In a small Havana bar, a group of soldiers mixed BACARDÍ Rum, cola, and lime and toasted ‘por Cuba libre!’ or ‘to a free Cuba’. The cocktail would go on to be one of the most popular cocktails in the world.

Destroy 60,000 cases or rum, i don't think so!

When Prohibition was declared in the USA, 60,000 cases of BACARDÍ Rum could not be sold or exported. Refusing to destroy the precious rum, Don Facundo’s son-in-law, Enrique Schueg, chose instead to give it away through an innovative share scheme. He issued 60,000 shares in BACARDÍ Rum’s US Bottling Company and the very next day closed the company down, giving away one case of BACARDÍ Rum as compensation for every share.

Prohibition: The party moves to Cuba
During 13 years of prohibition in the USA, Cuba became the place to be. Thanks in part to an American airline who ran advertising campaigns encouraging Americans to come to Cuba and ‘Bathe in BACARDÍ Rum’. Once in Cuba, people from all over would enjoy BACARDÍ cocktails at some of the most electric parties the world has ever seen.

Cuba's unofficial national drink – The MOJITO

Having evolved from a crude pirates drink called the Draque, the 1930’s saw the first publication of mojito recipes, perfected with BACARDÍ Rum. The Mojito was named ‘Cuba’s unofficial national drink’ however the name Mojito is thought to come from the West African word Mojo meaning a ‘little spell’.

It takes BACARDÍ to make BACARDÍ cocktails

With the end of prohibition in the USA, the growing popularity of the BACARDÍ Cocktail saw unscrupulous bartenders seek to hoodwink their consumers by using inferior quality rums. However in 1936 the New York Supreme Court acknowledged the high quality of BACARDÍ Rum and affirmed that a BACARDÍ Cocktail, could only be made with BACARDÍ Rum, thus protecting the rights of the consumers who asked for BACARDÍ by name

Exile from Cuba
Just prior to our 100th Anniversary, the Cuban administration confiscated all private businesses in Cuba without any compensation. BACARDÍ Rum production was forced to stop and the Bacardí family lost its distilleries, breweries, offices, warehouses, aging rum stocks and even their family homes. But thanks to BACARDÍ President Pepín Bosch, having transferred all company patents out of Cuba in 1958, and the company having established two distilleries in Puerto Rico and Mexico many years prior, BACARDÍ was able to rebuild itself in exile.

1970's

Following their exile from Cuba, the Bacardí family quickly rebuilt their operation. In record time a new distillery was opened in Brazil to support existing distilleries in Mexico and Puerto Rico, and by 1979 BACARDÍ Rum had become the world’s number one international spirit, all thanks to the perseverance of the Bacardí family who for the second time had to start from nothing.

150 Years of family ownership - 2012

2012 is the year of BACARDÍ Rum’s 150th Anniversary. From humble beginnings in a tinned-roof distillery the Bacardí family has passed down the Bacardi Company from father to son, for seven generations. As we welcome the eighth generation into the world, we raise a glass to the next 150 years.

http://www.bacardi.com/uk/Heritage