Bacardi Celebrates 160 Years With a Look Back at the Legacy It Created Since 1862

An entrepreneurial spirit, family culture, and Good Spirited approach have ensured business success for generations

HAMILTON, BERMUDA, February 4, 2022 – The world’s largest privately held spirits company, Bacardi, celebrates 160 years in the spirits business today. Over the last seven generations, Bacardi has developed a portfolio of iconic spirits brands and nurtured talented teams worldwide that applaud the Company for its Good Spirited corporate social responsibility initiatives, family-oriented culture, and the founder’s mentality and fearless attitude it instills in its people.

Bacardi sees purpose in creating joy and connection for its talent, trade, and the communities it serves. It is this commitment to make moments matter and always do the right thing that has resulted in the Company being recognized as a Great Place to Work® and Top Employer™ in more than 20 of the countries where it has facilities, including the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Poland, South Africa, India, UAE, Australia, Canada, and across Latin America. In November, it was also recognized on the Forbes’ list of the ‘World’s Best Employers’ for 2021.

Bacardi merits its success to its strong heritage, dating back to when the family-owned Company was founded on February 4, 1862, by Don Facundo Bacardí Massó in Santiago de Cuba. The legendary founder bought a small distillery at the time, revolutionizing the rum-making process to create a smooth, light-bodied spirit, now known worldwide as BACARDÍ® rum. It was his entrepreneurial spirit, resilience, and appetite for risk that helped fuel initial business success.

Over the decades, Bacardi has proved that it is no stranger to turning trouble into triumph. It had just set up operations in Barcelona and New York when Prohibition went into effect in the United States in 1920. Quick thinking Bacardi immediately ran a campaign promoting Cuba as a tropical escape from the “dry” United States, masterfully enticing Americans to come to the island to enjoy BACARDÍ rum, setting a clear path to success in the most challenging times the industry had seen.

It also had the foresight to set up distilleries in Mexico and Puerto Rico in the 1930s, which came into more significant play when Bacardi operations and assets in Cuba were illegally confiscated without compensation by revolutionary government forces on October 14, 1960, just shy of the Company’s 100th anniversary. While the Bacardi family was forced to flee the island in exile, they had already cleverly moved the company’s trademarks, and yeast strain out of Cuba, enabling them to continue operations in the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and additional markets.

Bacardi has always exhibited the ability to navigate through unchartered waters. In 1965, the Company established its global headquarters in a new island: Bermuda. Seven years later, the company unveiled a new office on the island, inspired by an original design by renowned architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The design was originally intended for a company headquarters in Santiago de Cuba that never came to be.

As the business grew, Bacardi set its sights beyond the rum business, acquiring the MARTINI & ROSSI Group in 1993. In recent decades, Bacardi has continued to invest in premium spirits brands across a variety of categories to build the iconic portfolio it houses today. Leading brands including DEWAR’S® blended Scotch whisky, BOMBAY SAPPHIRE® gin, GREY GOOSE® vodka, and PATRÓN® tequila joined the family. Today, Bacardi has more than 200 brands and labels and continues to invest in the development of innovative and sustainable drink experiences, including a range of low-ABV and non-alcoholic spirits that offer consumers more varied drinks choices in line with the latest trends.

In its 160 years, Bacardi has faced each challenge – rising through exile, prohibition, pandemic, and more – by always doing what is in the best interest of its people, partners, and the planet. As the Company strides successfully on to its next milestone, you can find out more about Bacardi, its Good Spirited work, and how you can become part of the family at www.bacardilimited.com.

About Bacardi Limited
Bacardi Limited, the largest privately held spirits company in the world, produces and markets internationally recognized spirits and wines. The Bacardi Limited brand portfolio comprises more than 200 brands and labels, including BACARDÍ® rum, GREY GOOSE® vodka, PATRÓN® tequila, DEWAR’S® Blended Scotch whisky, BOMBAY SAPPHIRE® gin, MARTINI® vermouth and sparkling wines, CAZADORES® 100% blue agave tequila, and other leading and emerging brands including WILLIAM LAWSON’S® Scotch whisky, ST-GERMAIN® elderflower liqueur, and ERISTOFF® vodka.

Founded 160 years ago in Santiago de Cuba, family-owned Bacardi Limited currently employs more than 8,000, operates production facilities in 10 countries, and sells its brands in more than 170 countries. Bacardi Limited refers to the Bacardi group of companies, including Bacardi International Limited. Visit http://www.bacardilimited.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.