Bacardi to re-launch Havana Club rum

[greygoose]

After a long legal battle, fans will get another taste of Havana Club rum. Bacardi is relaunching the product this week.

Havana Club, the rum that evokes memories of toasts at glittery hot spots in pre-Castro Cuba, is coming this week to Florida bars, liquor stores and hotels.

Coming on the heels of a favorable ruling in a decade-long legal battle with French liquor giant Pernod Ricard and the Cuban government, Miami-based Bacardi U.S.A. is relaunching the Havana Club brand as a super-premium rum selling for $19.99 a bottle.

Thursday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office deemed the Havana Club trademark held by Cubaexport ``cancelled/expired.''

Bringing Havana Club back to the United States is particularly gratifying for Ramon Arechabala. His family created the rum in 1935, and exported it to the United States and other countries until Jan. 1, 1960, when Fidel Castro's government seized the family's plant and trademark.

Arechabala, former sales manager of the family company, said Monday he vividly remembers the day the bodyguard of Cuban revolutionary Ernesto ''Che'' Guevara placed a gun to his head and took over the Havana Club distillery in Cardenas.

In recent years, Havana Club has been marketed by a joint venture involving Cubaexport, a Cuban government company, and Pernod Ricard. Because of the embargo on Cuba, it was not available in the United States.

`NOT DRINKABLE'

Although that Havana Club is popular in both Cuba and Europe, Arechabala declared it ``not drinkable.''

''Fidel lacks the formula of the right Havana Club,'' said Arechabala, 70, who has lived in Miami for 38 years. ``That's the only thing Fidel couldn't take from me.''

In the mid 1990s, Bacardi cut a deal with the Arechabalas for the rights to the family's recipe and the name Havana Club. The brand was introduced in the United States, but pulled from the shelves when the rum war ignited.

At least for now, however, here will be two versions of Havana Club for sale, one from Bacardi and the other from the Cuban/French joint venture.

Bacardi's new Havana Club will be bottled at the company's rum facilities in Puerto Rico. For now it will be available only in Florida because of limited supply.

LIMITED SUPPLY

But Bacardi executives said Monday that based on response, it will likely be rolled out to other key U.S. markets.

The timing of the Havana Club launch has nothing to do with any recent Cuba interest sparked by Castro's health issues, company executives said. And the U.S. Patent Office ruling was just coincidental with their plans to introduce the brand, they said.

Instead, executive said, it's all about capitalizing on strong consumer demand for super-premium liquor brands and the return of classic cocktails such as the daiquiri and mojito. The rum category, where Bacardi is already the top-selling brand in the world, has also been growing.

''We've been planning this for many years,'' said John Gomez, vice president and group marketing director for Bacardi U.S.A. ``We always owned the brand. There was no issue in our minds. It was only a question of when it was commercially appropriate for the relaunch.''

Cubaexport has claimed it obtained the rights to the Havana Club name in 1976 after José Arechabala S.A. allowed the trademark to lapse with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Cubaexport registered the trademark in 1976, but no compensation was ever provided to the Arechabala family.

U.S. courts have consistently ruled that Havana Club Holdings, the name of the French/Cuban joint venture, has no right to the trademark in the United States.

But the issue of who held the trademark remained unresolved until last week's decision.

Executives from Pernod Ricard were unavailable late Monday afternoon.

Unlike most countries, the United States typically gives priority to the first entity to utilize a brand, not the first to register it, said Miami attorney Jim Gale, whose firm Feldman Gale specializes in trademark and patent law.

But a trademark in one country has no impact on operations in another country, Gale said.

BUILDING NEW BUZZ

Bacardi plans to market Havana Club as a super-premium brand, along the lines of Grey Goose vodka, which the company also owns.

It will introduce the brand with trendsetters in South Florida and hopes the buzz will spread.

The product will start appearing locally this week.

Most other premium rums made by Bacardi or other companies are dark rums meant to be sipped, but Havana Club is a clear liquid that mixes well in cocktails.

[Gwynn]

so this stuff is good then? i think they have it at my lockal liquor store, i used too drink rather much Bacardi white rum a few years back, so maybe this stuff is worth a try.

[GSG]

Havana Club is so much nicer than Bacardi.

[Gwynn]

Sweet! :D

[thirsty4beer]

Havana Club is so much nicer than Bacardi.

i have seen it in the offie's here many times and never bothered to try it out.i must learn from this...

[GSG]

Havana Club is so much nicer than Bacardi.

i have seen it in the offie's here many times and never bothered to try it out.i must learn from this...

Try it before they buy it. I don't trust Bacadri <spit> not to change it's beautiful taste.

[The Lush]

Essential in the Cuba Libre.

I miss the days when I bought spirits other than the supermarket own brand ones.

[Lifer]

Havana Club is so much nicer than Bacardi.

...In the way that somone pissing in your bed is better than someone shitting in it.


In my opinion, at least.


EDIT: Also, I've been able to buy Havana Club for as long as I can remember. This another lack-of-embargo thing for me or what?

[thirsty4beer]

EDIT: Also, I've been able to buy Havana Club for as long as I can remember. This another lack-of-embargo thing for me or what?

i believe so. it was just U.S.A. who didnt/dont trade with them i think

[thirsty4beer]

Try it before they buy it. I don't trust Bacadri <spit> not to change it's beautiful taste.

sounds like a plan for when i'm next in the offies

[G_W]

EDIT: Also, I've been able to buy Havana Club for as long as I can remember. This another lack-of-embargo thing for me or what?

I think this is a case of what you have been buying is the stuff they are currently producing in Cuba, but what Bacardi is going to release is based off the family recipe the stuff was originalyl made with, not the recipe Cuba uses.

[GSG]

Havana Club is so much nicer than Bacardi.

...In the way that somone pissing in your bed is better than someone shitting in it.

Interesting interpretation...

Not a rum fan then I take it?

[Lifer]

EDIT: Also, I've been able to buy Havana Club for as long as I can remember. This another lack-of-embargo thing for me or what?

I think this is a case of what you have been buying is the stuff they are currently producing in Cuba, but what Bacardi is going to release is based off the family recipe the stuff was originalyl made with, not the recipe Cuba uses.

Yeah, I gleaned that after a re-read

sounds interesting. What I've had I didn't enjoy, but it was alos bought in Cuba so it might have been gasoline laced with rubbing alcohol for all I know.


And GSG, I'm not a huge rum fan, but Havana Club has given me many conversations with the porcelien god, and none too deserved.
Though, in a pinch, I'd drip it through an IV if it gets me drunk.

[greatzot]

I just got back from Varadero where Havana Club white is the well rum in the all inclusives. I had no problem with it, it was a smooth good tasting rum that I had no problem drinking for 14-16 hours a day. I brought home 2 litres of the 7 year ($14 a bottle) old which is truly a lovely rum and have managed to kill that. A pint of the Havana Club white goes for $2 a bottle in Varadero. I can't imagine that Barcardi will improve on its taste. I only wish I had the money to have forked out for the 15 year old, that might have been really special.