Post #766487 by AceExplorer on Thu, Jul 21, 2016 4:02 PM

On 2016-07-21 15:44, mikehooker wrote:
I just recently started seeing the Blanco and Classico Puerto Rican-made Havana Club in Texas.

...the recipe they sold to Bacardi in the 90s is the original and therefore better.

Interesting, Mike. To have the original recipe is one thing, but I think in the case of Havana Club you must also have the original yeast strains, right?

The Puerto Rican product has appeared at my local Total Wine, and I snapped the photos below to share here. No word on when I'll "buy and try," but maybe someday. Maybe. Definitely if the reviews are really positive.

You're right, we may never again get to taste the "real" pre-revolution Havana Club. What a shame. I read online somewhere that the yeasts were sampled and taken by the family, and the remainder was destroyed just hours before the armed forces took over the distillery. I don't know the lineage of the yeasts being used today in Cuba.