Bacardi - Early History

Early History

Facundo Bacardí Massó, a Catalan wine merchant, was born in Sitges, Catalonia, (Spain) in 1814, and emigrated to Cuba in 1830. During this period, rum was cheaply made and not considered a refined drink, one rarely sold in upscale taverns. Don Facundo began attempting to "tame" rum by isolating a proprietary strain of yeast still used in Bacardi production today. This yeast gives Bacardi rum its unique flavor profile. After experimenting with several techniques he hit upon filtering the rum through charcoal, which removed impurities. In addition to this, Facundo aged the rum in white oak barrels, which had the effect of "mellowing" the drink. The final product was the first clear, or "white" rum in the world.

Moving from the experimental stage to a more commercial endeavor, he and his brother José set up shop in a Santiago de Cuba distillery they bought in 1862; that distillery housed a still made of copper and cast iron. In the rafters of this building lived fruit bats. Hence, the Bacardi bat logo.

The 1880s and 90s were turbulent times for Cuba and the company. Emilio Bacardí, Don Facundo's eldest son, was repeatedly imprisoned and was exiled from Cuba for having fought in the rebel army against Spain in the Cuban War of Independence.

Emilio's brothers, Facundo and José, and his brother-in-law Henri (Don Enrique) Schueg, remained in Cuba with the difficult task of sustaining the company during a period of war. The women in the family were exiled in Kingston, Jamaica. After the Cuban War of Independence and the US occupation of Cuba, "The Original Cuba Libre" and the Daiquiri were both born with Bacardi rum. In 1899 US General Leonard Wood appointed Emilio Bacardí Mayor of Santiago de Cuba.

In 1912 Emilio Bacardi travelled to Egypt where he purchased a mummy for the future Emilio Bacardí Moreau Municipal Museum in Santiago de Cuba,(mummy still on display). In Santiago, his brother Facundo M. Bacardí continued to manage the company along with Schueg, who began the company's international expansion by opening new bottling plants in Barcelona (1910) and New York City (1915). The New York plant was soon shut down due to Prohibition, yet during this time Cuba became a hotspot for US tourists.

In 1914 Emilio bought a large amount of land in Ponce, Puerto Rico from successful business man, Narcisus Mage. Emilio spent a very large sum of money because of the land's great location.

In 1922 Emilio opened a new distillery in Santiago. In 1930 Schueg opened the art deco Bacardi building in Havana and the third generation of the Bacardí family was entering the business. Facundito Bacardí was known to have invited US-Americans (still subject to Prohibition) to "Come to Cuba and bathe in Bacardi rum." A new product was introduced: Hatuey beer.

Bacardi's transition into an international brand was due mostly to Schueg's "business genius"; Schueg "branded Cuba as the home of rum, and Bacardi as the king of rums" and expanded overseas, first to Mexico (1931), then to Puerto Rico (1936), under the brand name Ron Bacardi. (Ron is the Spanish word for rum). Post-Prohibition production in Puerto Rico enabled rum to be sold tariff-free in the U.S. after Prohibition. He then expanded to the United States (1944).

During the World War II years the company was led by Schueg's son-in-law José 'Pepin' Bosch. Pepin founded Bacardi Imports in New York City, and was named Cuba's Minister of the Treasury in 1949.