Bacardi Limited is the largest privately held, family-owned spirits company in the world.[1] Originally known for its Bacardí brand of white rum, it now has a portfolio of more than 200 brands and labels.[2] Founded in Cuba in 1862 by Facundo Bacardí i Massó, a Spanish businessman born in Sitges, Bacardi Limited has been family-owned for seven generations, and employs more than 8,000 people with sales in approximately 170 countries. Bacardi Limited is the group of companies as a whole and includes Bacardi International Limited.[3]
Bacardi Limited is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda, and has a board of directors led by the original founder's great-great-grandson, Facundo L. Bacardí, the board's chairman.[4] The company's Cathedral of Rum in Puerto Rico,[5][6][7] the largest rum distillery in the world, produces 85% of Bacardi rum worldwide, while the remaining 15% originates from distilleries in Mexico and India.[8]
History
Early history
Facundo Bacardí Massó, a Spanish wine merchant, was born in Sitges, Catalonia, Spain, on October 16, 1814, and immigrated to Santiago, Cuba, in 1830. At the time, rum was cheaply made and not considered a refined drink, and rarely sold in upmarket taverns or purchased by the growing emerging middle class on the island.[9] Facundo began attempting to "tame" rum by isolating a proprietary strain of yeast harvested from local sugar cane still used in Bacardí production today. This yeast gives Bacardí rum its flavour profile. After experimenting with several techniques for close to ten years, Facundo pioneered charcoal rum filtration, which removed impurities from his rum. Facundo then created two separate distillates that he could blend together, balancing a variety of flavors: Aguardiente (a robust, flavorful distillate) and Redestillado (a refined, delicate distillate). Once Facundo achieved the perfect balance of flavors by marrying the two distillates together, he purposefully aged the rum in white oak barrels to develop subtle flavors and characteristics while mellowing out those that were unwanted. The final product was the first clear, light-bodied, and mixable "white" rum in the world.[10]
Moving from the experimental stage to a more commercial endeavour as local sales began to grow, Facundo and his brother José purchased a
Brands
Bacardi beverage brands include:[44]
- Beer: Hatuey
- Cachaça: Leblon
- Cognac: Baron Otard, D'USSÉ
- Gin: Bombay Sapphire, Bosford Rose, Oxley
- Liqueur: Bénédictine, Cedlila, Get, Martini Spirito, Patrón Citrónge
Main brand
- Bacardi Superior
- Bacardi 8
- Bacardi Gran Reserva
- Bacardi Dark Rum
- Bacardi White Rum
- Bacardi Spiced Rum
- Bacardi Gold Rum
- Bacardi 151
- Bacardi Gold
- Bacardi Mojito
- Bacardi Breezers
- Bacardi Apple
- Bacardi Lemon
- Bacardi Carta Blanca
Awards
Bacardí rums have been entered for a number of international spirit ratings awards. Several Bacardí spirits have performed notably well.[45][46][47][48] In 2020, Bacardí Superior, Bacardí Gold, Bacardí Black, Bacardí Añejo Cuatro were each awarded a gold medal by the International Quality Institute Monde Selection. In addition, both Bacardí Reserva Ocho and Bacardí Gran Reserva Diez were awarded the top honor of Grand Gold quality award.[49]
Hemingway connection
Ernest Hemingway lived in Cuba from 1939 until shortly after the Cuban Revolution. He lived at Finca Vigía, in the small town of San Francisco de Paula, located very close to Bacardi's Modelo Brewery for Hatuey Beer in Cotorro, Havana.
In 1954, Compañía Ron Bacardi S.A. threw Hemingway a party when he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature – soon after the publication of his novel The Old Man and the Sea (1952) – in which he honored the company by mentioning its Hatuey beer. Hemingway also mentioned Bacardí and Hatuey in his novels To Have and Have Not (1937) and For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940). Guillermo Cabrera Infante wrote an account of the festivities for the periodical Ciclón, titled "El Viejo y la Marca" ("The Old Man and the Brand", a play on "El Viejo y el Mar", the book's Spanish title). In his account he described how "on one side there was a wooden stage with two streamers – Hatuey beer and Bacardi rum – on each end and a Cuban flag in the middle. Next to the stage was a bar, at which people crowded, ordering daiquiris and beer, all free."[50] A sign at the event read "Bacardi rum welcomes the author of The Old Man and the Sea".
In his article "The Old Man and the Daiquiri", Wayne Curtis writes about how Hemingway's "home bar also held a bottle of Bacardí rum". Hemingway wrote in Islands in the Stream, "...this frozen daiquirí, so well beaten as it is, looks like the sea where the wave falls away from the bow of a ship when she is doing thirty knots."
Mishaps
Death of Day Davis
On August 16, 2012 temporary worker Lawrence Daquan "Day" Davis was crushed to death when a faulty palletizer he was cleaning was activated. It was his first day on the job at the Jacksonville, Florida Bacardi Bottling facility. No lockout/tagout procedures had been implemented.[52] An Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigation found 12 safety violations, and Bacardi was fined $192,000,[53] but reached an agreement where it paid $110,000.[54]
Russian invasion of Ukraine
When Russia invaded Ukraine, Bacardi claimed that it would halt all exports to Russia and freeze investment and advertising programs,[55]
See also
- Lubee Bat Conservancy, an organization in Gainesville, Florida, founded by Facundo's great-grandson Luis
External links
- Map of Distillery in Puerto Rico from Google Maps
References
- Top 8 family-owned spirits companies The Spirit Business, September 2016, retrieved 2020-10-01^
- Andrew Ross Sorkin. Bacardi to Buy Grey Goose, Stirring More Talk of I.P.O. The New York Times, 21 June 2004^
- Bacardi Limited BacardiLimited.com, retrieved 23 April 2012^