Bacardi was founded in 1862 by Don Facundo Bacardí Massó in Santiago de Cuba. What started as a small distillery is today one of the largest privately held spirits companies in the world.
Official website: bacardilimited.com
Back in the nineteenth century, rum was not considered a refined drink, especially not by the middle and upper classes in Cuba. Facundo began experimenting with different techniques to remove impurities from his rum that was made from yeast harvested from local sugar cane. It is this yeast that gives Bacardi rum its unmistakable flavour profile. Eventually, Facundo was able to arrive at a technique of filtering the rum using charcoal to remove impurities from the rum. His nearly decade-long efforts resulted in two spirits - one strong and aromatic distillate (Aguardiente) and the other subtle and refined distillate (Redestillado). He then blended these two spirits together, seeking the right ratio to achieve a perfectly balanced flavour. After the blending process, Facundo purposely left the rum to age in white oak casks, giving rise to the world's first clear and blended white rum.
1910 marks the year of expansion for Bacardi rums as the brand opened new operations in Barcelona and eventually started to sell their rum in the US and worldwide. In 1930, Bacardi reveals Havana’s first skyscraper and with ongoing prohibition in America and a large influx of tourists, the brand is gaining more reputation and respect in the spirits business, expanding its facilities to Mexico and Puerto Rico. To this day, the Puerto Rican distillery is the largest in the world.
Nevertheless, the Bacardi family has had to deal with many difficult political and natural events throughout its history. Over the course of eight generations, Bacardi family has experienced three coups d'état, three major earthquakes, nearly fifty years of exile, six years under military occupation in Cuba, fourteen years of civil war and four devastating fires at their facilities. In 1960, all company's assets in Cuba were even confiscated without any financial compensation. However, they managed to keep it all together and today they produce one of the most popular rums around the world.
As the name suggests, Bacardi Millennium rum in a beautiful Baccarat crystal bottle is a limited edition designed to celebrate the new 2000 millennium. The rum was aged for eight years in sherry barrels and only 3000 bottles were produced. This art bottle this artistic bottle offers a quality fine rum and was sold with the certificate of authenticity signed by the president of Bacardi company.
Bacardi Gran Reserva Limitada is a limited edition single cask rum from Bacardi and comes from stock originally reserved exclusively for the founder's family. For 15 years, this is aged in American white oak barrels leaving this rum with a robust and dry character of Cuban rums with notes of vanilla, honey, dried fruit, and oak. Each of these bottles is numbered and of course, bears the identification of the cask from which it comes.
