THE FOUNDER’S TALE

Bacardi was founded by Don Facundo Bacardí Massó in Santiago de Cuba, when he bought a small distillery and revolutionised the rum-making process to create a smooth, light-bodied spirit – what the world now knows as BACARDÍ® rum.

Facundo’s wife, Doña Amalia noticed a colony of fruit bats hanging in the rafters of the distillery and recognised their importance to the Spanish and Cuban Taíno Indians as symbols of good health, family unity, and good fortune. She suggested adopting the bat as the symbol of BACARDÍ rum and soon locals began to ask for “el ron del murcielago” – the rum of the bat.

Facundo Bacardí Moreau (the son of Don Facundo) planted a coconut palm at the front of the new distillery. Affectionately known as El Coco, the palm became a symbol to the Bacardí family and company. Withstanding a distillery fire, five earthquakes, and countless hurricanes, El Coco symbolised the strength and resilience of the Bacardi company. And eventually, a local prophecy grew around the palm tree:

“The Bacardi company will survive in Cuba so long as the coconut palm lives.”