Bacardi Carta Blanca

Defunct light Cuban rum. Originally the signature Bacardi rum originating in Santiago, Cuba. During the first half the 20th Century, Bacardi expanded production to Puerto Rico, Mexico and Spain in order to meet growing demand, while generally keeping a tight lid on quality control. Vintage bottles may state the country of origin. During the decades following the Cuban Revolution, Bacardi reinvented itself along a globalized model that drastically changed their products and marketing. No current Bacardi product resembles the original Carta Blanca, although Bacardi Superior (white) is ostensibly its descendent. Light Cuban rum is generic for the light-bodied aged rums of Cuba stripped of all or most of their color through filtration and epitomized by the storied-but-now-extinct “Carta Blanca” Bacardi rums prior to the Cuban Revolution. The most popular style of rum during the 20th Century, light cuban-style rums essentially rewrote the industry to the extent that almost all filtered rums today are emulative. Unfortunately, over the last sixty years the standard has drifted markedly toward cheaply-produced rums with less flavor and character than where the style began in the late 19th Century. No contemporary rum has yet recaptured the standard once set and held by Bacardi as late as the 1950s.