Cuba: Santiago de Cuba – Former Bacardi Rum Factory
Santiago de Cuba is tied with the Bacardi family and rum. Facundo Bacardi, a Spanish wine merchant emigrated to Santiago from Sitges in Spain in 1814. At the time, rum was widely distilled in Cuba, but it was considered a cheap and rough drink, nothing upscale or refined about it. Facundo was obsessed with changing it. He spent 10 years developing a unique local yeast formula and charcoal filtration that were used to create to distillates – aguardiente and redestillado – that were then used to combine in certain proportion to create uniquely smooth and clear white rum that was further aged in oak barrels – the first such rum in the world! Facundo built a large distillery to produce the rum commercially. The distillery had a large roost of fruit bats living in it, and Facundo’s wife, Dona Amalia, suggested adopting the bat symbol as the trademark for their Bacardi rum (the logo is world famous and is used to this day). The rum became a global success and the famous cocktails – Cuba Libre and Daiquiri – were both born in Santiago and based on the local rum. Emilio Bacardi, Facundo’s son became the governor of Santiago and one of the leaders of the Cuban fight for independence. During the Cuban revolution, the communists kicked Bacardi out and expropriated all the assets without compensation. Bacardi moved to Bermuda where the now global Bacardi conglomerate is headquarters, the largest private beverage maker in the world. The factory is Santiago now carries the “Santiago de Cuba Rum” label and is the second largest rum maker in Cuba. We tasted the 8 and 12 year rums – both extremely smooth and flavorful, better than the Havana Club. Oh, and the original bat skeleton is still hanging here!
