Bacardi: a Smackdown

[Capn Jimbo]

Bacardi: a Smackdown


There comes a point in the development of a website/blog when the basic subject - in this case rum - has been pretty well covered. You've reviewed all the important, available and affordable rums. You've introduced styles, tasting techniques, glasses and marketing. You've uncovered and blasted the great myths. Hell, you've even reviewed the facking reviewers fer gawdssake!

So what's left? Bacardi. Here's why...

First of all the commercial sites and wannabees need to have a handy whipping boy. Almost all other distillers are off limits for one simple reason: they need freebies and to sell those tables at their rumfests. You sure can't insult them with, heavens, a really bad review, now can you? But Bacardi, now there's a target! Bacardi gets positioned as the Walmart of Rum - cheap, mass produced products that you only buy when you're desperate.

For a company that is considered that bad, they sure sell a lot of rum.


Is this reputation really deserved?

Our old friend RT posted a lovely review of a wonderful book "Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba". This 400 page tome is a terrific read and will give the reader a real insight into not only the Bacardi's politics, but their personalities and commitment, not only to Cuba but to their rum.

Facundo Bacardi was the right man at the right time and with the right idea - a rum that was demonstrably better than the harsher rums then available. He experimented and proved to be meticulous and detailed, concerned with minutia but yet who had the overview and artistry to create and maintain what was turned out to be a style. What's also important is the large and extended family that became and continued to be involved in the company to this day.

Still time and great success have developed a schism: is Facundo's commitment and artistry still prevalent, or is the family as driven to compromise as the purely corporate Diageos?


Ergo, The Great Bacardi Test

Until I read RT's book, I too accepted the Bacardi Bias - although to be fair, we did review the Bacardi 8 Year. But as for the rest? Why bother? Actually, why not? We realised that perhaps we'd been unfair. That we'd accepted the Bacardi Bias and ignored what are really very economically priced rums. Was that fair, especially considering that The Rum Project is a proponent of the notion that great rums don't have to be expensive?

It was not.

So we've decided to give Bacardi a fair go and did what all the other reviewers would find unthinkable. We knowingly and consciously bought - some would say waste our money - on buying all the common, hopefully unflavored Bacardis for a Smackdown Review. These include the Select, the Anejo, the 8 Year and when we find it, the Solera.

Stay tuned. Now if you know any of these, kindly poll and post your opinions...

[Capn Jimbo]

The Bacardi Rum Smackdown is scheduled...


For tonight. Just to be complete I picked up an overpriced pint of Bacardi Gold, which now means the Smackdown will be of;

1. Bacardi Gold (no doubt the youngest)
2. Bacardi Anejo: states up to 3 years
3. Bacardi Select: up to 4 years
5. Bacardi 8 Year: uh, eight years.

It is very interesting that the Bacardi "Solera" simply can't be found. This is quite amazing, particularly in South Florida and particularly in view of Bacardi's dominence of most shelves.

Stay tuned...