In 1862, Facundo Bacardi and his brother José bought the Santiago de Cuba Distillery and began to distill what would become the most popular commercial rum in the world. Using a method of charcoal filtering, and oak barrel aging along with a still of copper and cast iron, Facundo Bacardi created a smoother more refined version of the locally made rum. His smoother version of the spirit became local favourite, and over time, an international sensation. Of course, Bacardi Rum is not made in Cuba anymore, the Ron Bacardi Company left Cuba in the wake of Fidel Castro’s plans to nationalize all private property and privately held bank accounts on the Island. The Bacardi family moved important trademarks out of Cuba, and using a Bacardi owned plant built in Puerto Rico, were able to continue to build their company. Bacardi is now the largest family owned spirits company in the world.
The Bacardi Gran Reserva Diez (10 Years Old) is produced using column still distillation and barrel aging. This rum has been aged for a minimum of 10 years in the Caribbean.
Here is a link to my full review:
Review: Bacardi Gran Reserva Diez (10 Years Old)
Please enjoy the review which includes my cocktail suggestion, the Rum Old Fashioned.
Chimo!
In 2013, Tanduay Holdings began its entry into North America by placing two new rums into the US market. At the time, Tanduay was one of the very largest Rum producers in the world. (The reason they were relatively unknown in North America is because their Asian rum is produced in the Philippines and was sold almost exclusively into Asia.) The launch featured their premium Silver, and Gold rums which I reviewed in 2013 and reassessed again earlier this year (
Lemon Hart is an iconic rum brand with roots which stretch back to the late 18th century when Mr. Lemon Hart began to supply rum to the British Royal Navy. By 1804, production of his “Lemon Hart Rum” was moved from his small merchant office in Cornwall, England to a larger facility in London. Over 150 years later the rum was no linger being produced in England, rather the blend was being produced at the Hiram Walker Distillery in Ontario, Canada. True to its roots as a Navy Rum, the brand remained a Demerara blend with the base rum bulk shipped from Guyana to the Hiram Walker Distillery where it was aged and blended with 1.5 % Canadian Rum for tax purposes.
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Old Monk is an aged dark rum produced by 
Monymusk Classic Gold Rum is produced in Jamaica by a partnership called the National Rums of Jamaica. The spirit is produced at the Claredon Distillery (also called the Monymusk Distillery), near Lionel Town in the heart of Jamaica’s sugar cane producing region. The Claredon Distillery contains a modern column still plant and a second older plant with two double-retort pot stills.
The Rum Howler Blog 