Solera This Dept: Bacardi's "Solera"?

[Capn Jimbo]

Is Bacardi's "Solera" a real and true solera?


This was a good question from our friend Faroncinski who thought their "Solera" perhaps a "little dodgy". In a PM I replied...



Moi:

"Unfortunately Bacardi's website is long on glitz and short on detail. Distillers are known, if not famous, for misleading names. Think Zacapa 23 Anos (which implied a very old rum). When the market caught on, they amended this to "Zacapa 23" and left out the "Anos". This was simply a cheap evasion, which was done to be tecnically truthful (a very old solera), but the implication - a 23 year old rum - remained.

Now for Bacardi: Of course they know what a solera is, but is this just a name, or is there a real solera? I'm going to give this a 40/60 chance. Why?

1. None of their other rums use misleading names.
2. It would not be hard to create a very simple, two level solera, with frequent large extractions for bottling. This would technically be a solera, but certainly not a very effective one.

That's the 40% chance. The 60% chance is based - not on the label, but on their website:

Originated to commemorate the martyrs of the Virginius Affair of its namesake year BACARDI® 1873 Solera is the original, light-bodied, single barrelled sipping rum. A blend of a very rich distillate it is aged for up to three years in newly charred and carefully selected oak casks; it is blended to achieve characteristic BACARDI® smoothness.

My reasons here:

1. 1873 commemorates the Cuban Revolution against Spain, a movement promoted by Marti and by young Emilio Bacardi. Unfortunately in that year the Cuban revolutionary forces were losing, a number were captured. The "Virginius Affair" refers to an incident where captured Cubans were being executed en masse by the Spanish in Santiago, only a few blocks from the Bacardi distillery and homes

Save only for an intervention by a brave British ship captain Sir Lambdon Lorraine of the British frigate Virginius - who threatened to sink a Spanish ship if one more Cuban was executed, the slaughter would have continued. The Spanish capitulated and the "Virginius" and Lorraine became heroes to the Cubans.

My point: this date and affair had nothing to do with the solera process.

2. On their website the "Solera" is referred to as a "single barreled sipping rum" and a "blend" of rums "up to 3 years" of age. Except for the title of the rum, the word solera does not appear at all in the following description.

All said, it's close. You decide. I tend to believe that this rum is a blend, which then spends 3 years in a single barrel. What do you think?

[RT]

I saw the Bacardi 1873 Solera recently for the first time in a local store, the price was decent so I acquired it for research purposes. My personal preferences go more towards the fuller bodied pot-still rums from Jamaica and Barbados, so I have never been much of a Bacardi fan.

I had a few rum drinker friends over last night, and I set up a tasting. My primary goal was to assess the Bacardi Solera, and so I included in the tasting the Havana Club 7 and the Ron Matusalem Gran Reserva (Solera 15), both having received votes as being a worthy "reference standard" for Cuban style rums. I also included the Bacardi 8, being the closest thing that brand has to a flagship product IMHO.

Round one was blind and neat. I did not issue score sheets, rather I initiated conversation and asked things like "who tastes caramel?," "how oaky is it?," etc. I made notes of the consensus.

Round two was with an ice chip in each sample, to help cut any alcohol burn and to release more of the flavors.

At this point I revealed the four rums, but did not yet match them to the samples. Most of my tasters were familiar with the other three rums, and nearly everyone was able to correctly guess which sample was which.

Round three was completely unscientific, daiquiris and Cuba Libres.


Here is what we generally agreed on:

Havana Club 7 was our favorite. Not necessarily the smoothest of the four, but definitely the most flavorful. A light gold color, medium body, slight initial alcohol burn, and a medium-long finish. Dry as opposed to sweet. Flavors included butterscotch, leather, cedar, allspice, and pepper, all well balanced and soft. The best choice for sipping neat and making Daiquiris. 8.5 points out of 10.

Next was the Ron Matusalem Gran Reserva (Solera 15). Medium gold color, light to medium body, soft, well blended flavors, very little alcohol burn, medium finish. Flavors included vanilla, butterscotch, bitter orange, oak, and caramel. Very little spice, but some pepper on the finish. The best choice for Cuba Libres, and for sipping for anyone with a sweet tooth. 8.0 points out of 10.

Third was the Bacardi 8. The mildest tasting rum of the four, with a predominate oaky, smoky flavor, and moderate sweetness. Other notes include vanilla and floral orange, with just a bit of licorice (anise) and pepper. A versitile rum, had decent results in Daiquiris and Cuba Libres, as well as on the rocks, but didn't excel or offend in anything. 7.5 points out of 10.

Last was the Bacardi 1873 Solera. This rum had considerable alcohol burn, tasted watery / diluted flavors, and overall was seen as more simplistic than the others. Flavor notes included cinnamon, coffee, and anise, with the overall effect a bit on the bitter side, and not at all sweet. Citrus notes were distinctly missing, and a squeeze of lime definitely helped. It worked reasonably well in the Cuba Libre, since nearly all of the rum's flavors were overpowered and masked by the coke and lime. 6 points out of 10 (and that may be overly generous).

Bottom line, if the Bacardi Solera is indeed a true solera blend and not just marketing drivel, it is likely a young and simplistic one. The future of my bottle is as a mixer, certainly not a sipper, and once the bottle is finished, it is unlikely to be replaced.