A look at history may help here...
Faro, your question is really a good one. Can a large company maintain quality between different factories? As luck would have it I am reading the 400 page history of the Bacardi family, their amazing growth and their relationship to Cuba.
Let's start with the product:
Before Facundo Bacardi developed what became the new Cuban style of a lighter, smoother more drinkable rum, the rum that was made before was rather harsh in comparison. Facundo's previous businesses had failed due to two things - an epidemic of cholera, and the aftereffects of the revolution which expelled the Spanish. After the family's return to Santiago he found his properties had been looted, and his general stores had no customers. He felt he had to create something new and special.
That turned out to be rum.
He went into partnership with a man with distilling experience, and like Phil Prichard (of Prichard's Fine Rum), they went through a period of great experimentation to discover the secrets the new, finer rum he had in mind. His parter, Bouteillier was a French Cuban who owned a small pot still with which he made perfumes. The two experimented with very small batches - a few jugs at a time, experimenting with various yeast strains, varying levels of sweetness of the ferment, and different distilling methods and extraction of the hearts.
They succeeded and Bacardi, Bouteillier and Compania did produce a notably better, smoother, lighter rum that found great favor. Their reputation and companies grew rapid through the years, as did their commitment to improving quality. Their competitors were in awe and speculated as to what Bacardi's "secret forumla" was. The factors we know about are...
1. Use of quick-fermenting cognac-type yeast (rather than the slower yeasts used by others).
2. Facundo's system of filtration of the "aguardiente" through layers of charcoal (never done before), and last...
3. His particular techniques of aging, using American white oak barrels.
My favorite quote from the book, quoting a Cuban historian as to Bacardi's "secret"
:"...better filtering here, more ageing there, total attention to details, temperature, ventilation, light and shade, the degree of the cane's ripeness and the quality of the molasses, the right choice of wood for the making of the ageing vats and above all the ability to balance all these factors or rather more the ability, the art of using them correctly"
Pay particular attention to that last sentence. Bacardi was fanatical about secrecy, attention to detail, but even then to the art of using the tools and techniques in an effective and successful fashion. That he was also a great marketer - perhaps the first to use labels, and even to sign each one was the beginning of effective marketing and sales.
Bacardi had it all: science, experimentation, commitment, artistry and promotion - all of it - and all created a company without equal in those times, and that would grow and grow.
A long story but here's the bullets...
1. Bacardi was fanatical about quality and consistency. One of the familiy's greatest fears was rum made in different distilleries in different locations would be different.
2. Accordingly Bacardi went to great lengths to insure that the product was as consistent as humanly possible. The controlled every aspect of production, including the employees (who were shared between facilities) to do so. They took multiple samples during and after production, from every barrel, and had them all analyzed constantly in their laboratories. Their tasters and evaluators were and are incredibly talented and evaluated not only the components and physical characteristics, but the feel and taste profiles.
Thus, if there was ever a company who produced a consistent product it was and is Bacardi.
Now let's speak for the Cubans
When Fidel Castro took over the Bacardi operations, it devastated the family, whose commitment to Cuba was unwavering. Even though they had foreseen this, and had already expanded and moved their operations to Puerto Rico, the idea of leaving Cuba was intolerable.
Meanwhile the new Cuban government took a communist approach and deposed many in key positions, though they attempted to retain the few who they believed knew the business. Far worse than the rums by regulation of the AOC cane juice rums in Martinique, the Cubans broke down every single step, every single move, every single material into a literal library of precise instructions for absolutely everything.
Remember the Cuban historian who was not only in awe of Bacardi's many techniques, but the expertise and ability to use them artistically and in balanced harmony to create a spirit of quality, consistency and artistry. That was lost when the government took over. They saw making rum as a process much like building a car: you make the parts and you put them together in a specified way and voila! A car as a series of component steps.
They felt that no particular expertise was needed, indeed might hurt the process of assembly. A quote...
"The technical norms to be followed in washing corks and gluing labels were described in almost as much detail as were the guidlines for aging the aguardiente or filtering the base rums with as little as possible left to human judgment.
The idea of judging a rum blend by its smell or feel on one's hands, as done by Daniel Bacardi or Mariano Lavigne, gave way to the procedure specified in the handbook.
Bottom Line:
1. Does this mean that Bacardi's commitment to quality has endured? I say probably - and for two reasons: first, their history and second that fact that the business remains a family business through several generations.
2. Would I "sell my soul" for a "real Cuban rum"? Before I read this book, perhaps. And now? Nope. A rum without art or heart isn't really rum. I'd have to say the real Cuban rum belonged to Bacardi.
As for cigars....
