Bacardi Carta Blanca
The rum that invented the light style, and the only one a court has ever ruled a cocktail must contain.
Quick Facts
Flavour Profile
Primary Flavours
Tasting Notes
Light and clean with faint vanilla and almond, and very little of the molasses weight most people expect from rum.
Storage & Handling
Upright, away from light. Indefinite once opened.
Usage
The Bacardi Cocktail, where a court ruling requires it. Otherwise it behaves as the reference light rum: daiquiris, mojitos, highballs and any recipe that says white rum without naming one, since this is largely the bottle those recipes were written against.
Facundo Bacardí Massó began distilling in Santiago de Cuba in 1862, and the innovation was filtration. Charcoal-filtering the spirit stripped out the heavy congeners that made rum taste of molasses and ship, leaving something light and clean that mixed in ways heavy rum could not. The daiquiri and the mojito are drinks that light rum made possible.
American Prohibition did the rest. With bars closed at home, Havana became the place to drink, and Bacardi was what people drank there. The bottle went from Cuban to internationally famous in roughly a decade, on the strength of Americans travelling ninety miles to have a cocktail legally.
The legal footnote is the strangest in cocktail history. In 1936 the New York Supreme Court held that a drink sold as a Bacardi Cocktail had to be made with Bacardi rum, after bars had taken to using cheaper substitutes. It remains the only cocktail whose composition has been settled by a court, which is a peculiar sort of immortality for a mixture of rum, lime and grenadine.
Top Tips
- The Bacardi Cocktail is legally required to contain Bacardi rum, following a 1936 New York Supreme Court ruling, which makes it the most narrowly specified drink in the canon.
- It is lighter than most modern white rums, so a daiquiri built on it wants slightly less syrup than one built on a fuller bottle.
- Serve it cold. The lightness that makes it versatile also means a warm pour tastes of very little.
Possible Substitutions
- For a Bacardi Cocktail there is no substitution: a court has said so.
- In other drinks, any clean column-distilled white rum sits close, though most carry a little more body.
Production Method
Column-distilled and charcoal-filtered to strip colour and heavy congeners, then briefly aged and filtered again. The method was unusual in 1862, when most rum was heavy and dark, and it created the clean light style that the daiquiri and the mojito were built on.
Common Questions
Is a Bacardi Cocktail legally required to use Bacardi?
In New York, effectively yes. A 1936 New York Supreme Court ruling held that a drink sold under that name must be made with Bacardi rum, after bars substituted cheaper spirits. It is the only cocktail whose recipe has been settled in court.
How is it different from other white rums?
It is lighter. Charcoal filtration strips the heavy congeners that give most rum its molasses weight, which is what the style was invented to do in 1862. Expect vanilla and almond rather than the richness of a pot-still rum.
What else should I make with it?
It is the reference bottle for the light-rum canon: daiquiris, mojitos and highballs. Most recipes that call for white rum without naming one were written against this style, so it is a safe default rather than a compromise.