Touring Bacardi’s Famous Rum Plant and Museum
There are few people in the world who haven’t heard of Bacardi Rum. This internationally known drink is made by the world’s largest privately owned spirits company. Bacardi sells more than 200 million bottles of Bacardi every year and supplies Bacardi Rum to roughly 200 different countries across the globe. If you have ever wondered how this great rum is made, you might want to take a tour of the Bacardi Rum Plant in Puerto Rico which is not far from San Juan.
Though the official headquarters of Bacardi is in Hamilton, Bermuda, the company owns several plants in different locations around the world. The Bacardi story actually starts in Cuba when Don Facundo Bacardi Masso, a Spanish wine merchant, made his way to Cuba to sell his product. There he discovered rum and found that it was largely considered to be cheap drink that was not sold in upscale taverns. So, after a little bit of experimentation, Don Facundo was able to produce the first ‘white’ rum in the world. With this fabulous new product he and his brother Jose were able to establish a small distillery where they could produce a reasonable amount of white rum on a daily basis. The rafters of this first distillery were home to many fruit bats and so the bat was incorporated into the Bacardi logo. That was in 1862 and Don Facundo probably never imagined the massive, multi-million dollar empire that his early efforts would eventually grow to become.
Today the Bacardi Rum Plant in Puerto Rico is renowned for being the largest rum distillery in the world. It processes approximately 100 000 gallons of rum every day. If you take the tour you be able to view the distillery, the bottling plant and a museum dedicated to this fabulous drink. You will also be able to sample one or two glasses of free Bacardi rum. Though admission to the plant is free, the trip to the plant may not be quite so cost effective. Many recommend taking a ‘do-it-yourself’ approach and taking a bus to the facility. Whatever path you choose to take, make sure that you visit the Bacardi Rum Plant in Puerto Rico. The tour is really quite interesting and worth seeing if you are visiting Puerto Rico.
