101 Rums to Try Before You Die by Ian Buxton

Author:Ian Buxton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Birlinn

48

HAVANA CLUB 7 YEARS

Brand owner: Havana Club Holding S. A. / Pernod Ricard

Website: www.havana-club.com

Origin: Cuba

MUCH THOUGH I WOULD LIKE TO INCLUDE ALL THE RUMS FROM Havana Club – yes, they are that good – I don’t have space. And there simply aren’t enough pages to explain the long-running and intensely fought legal dispute between Bacardí and Pernod Ricard over the use of the Havana Club brand name: that would require a whole book unto itself. Suffice it for you to be aware that if you buy ‘Havana Club’ in the US it has in all probability been distilled by Bacardí in Puerto Rico (which is both completely legal there and perfectly lovely, lawyers please note), while elsewhere in the world, your bottle of Havana Club has almost certainly been distilled in Cuba and distributed and marketed by Pernod Ricard, who have a joint venture with the Cuban government.

Incidentally, it looks as if the litigation will continue until one side runs out of money which, given the size and wealth of the protagonists, is very good news indeed for the lawyers. Aren’t we all perfectly delighted for them?

But moving on and limiting myself to just two Havana Clubs (both from the Cuban side), this very soon became a firm favourite in my drinking repertoire. Thing is, the standard Añejo Especial and the three-year-old white rum are really very good, but this is just better – and you pick that up as soon as you compare it with its younger relatives. You can mix this or drink it neat; either way, it performs, and for the slight premium in price it’s well worth paying extra.

Seven years old is actually quite a modest claim. Havana Club refer to the art of añejamiento, or distilling, ageing and blending, and this expression is made up of a complex blend of different rum bases that undergo a further process of continuous ageing, pioneered in the late 1960s by the Maestros del Ron Cubano. A small proportion of each blend is always reserved for the next batch, thus ensuring that every bottle retains a trace of the very first blend. That may sound a little like a homeopathic approach to blending, but the proof is in the bottle and that’s good enough for me.

Incidentally, to qualify as a Maestro Ronero requires an apprenticeship of 15 years, so be assured that these folks are deeply committed to their craft.

For the avoidance of doubt, Havana Club in the USA is a completely different product.

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