Post #743888 by AceExplorer on Sat, May 30, 2015 6:56 AM

On 2015-05-30 06:23, AdOrAdam wrote:
The idea that Havana Club isn't actually produced in Cuba is an interesting thought - a quick google suggests their current stock is but it makes sense that could change if needed.

Yes, anything can change. My understanding is that since the US trademark was allowed to be acquired by Bacardi, production has split to two companies, Bacardi and Pernod-Ricard. Bacardi makes theirs in Puerto Rico, and Pernod sells product which I understand is still made in Cuba, although I am not certain that all of the Pernod "Havanista" branded rums are entirely made in Cuba. (Profit motives could drive Pernod to make stuff elsewhere under the "Havanista" name, but Cuba would probably not allow that, just speculating on that...)

I find it very interesting that the Havana Club name was not (or could not be) used by Pernod, since the name has quite a history and reputation. However the US trademark decision may have made that necessary -- potential "world court" actions may have forced this to happen, bummer for Cuba and Pernod. I have forgotten how the Havanista name is used by Pernod and the Havana Club name is still used in Cuba, will have to look that up again. My guess (not having recently researched this) is that the Havana Club name is still used for domestic production in Cuba.

I would like to see more comments on this, I have not had the time to dig deeper into this.

Let's hope for the best with all this. If we normalize relations with Cuba, I'm really curious to see how that may impact the Bacardi ownership of the Havana Club name. I also agree with AdOrAdam that there will be a process of many months for US beverage control folks to re-introduce Cuban rums into the US.

Oh -- one more very interesting thing I forgot to mention -- I think the Bacardi folks WERE in the lineage of the producers of Havana Club before the whole Cuban nationalization of that industry occurred. When they fled Cuba, they left the production facilities and the brand behind but made every effort to destroy the yeasts on their way out. They took adequate amounts of the live yeasts out of the country and then started production elsewhere. I think a Google search would quickly yield some hits on this information. I recall there were very scant details on this, but there were some reports out there on the web...