Bacardi Carta Blanca
Bacardi Carta Blanca is Bacardi's light white rum, sold in the UK at 37.5% ABV; elsewhere the same rum is often labelled Superior. It is aged in oak and charcoal-filtered, and it is the rum a New York court tied to the Bacardi Cocktail in 1936, which is why our recipe names it.
Quick Facts
Upright, away from light. Indefinite once opened.
None of the 14 listed allergens. Recipes change: check the bottle.
About Bacardi Carta Blanca
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.
A light rum built by filtering
Carta Blanca is aged in oak and passed through charcoal, which takes out colour and some of the heavier flavours. Bacardi credits its founder with that approach. What reaches the glass is a dry, light white rum with very little of the caramel weight of the darker styles.
In the UK it is sold at 37.5% ABV, the legal minimum for rum. It is otherwise a white rum like any other, and that page covers how the style is used.
A court ruling put the name on a drink
A judgment of the New York Supreme Court, given on 28 April 1936, held that the drink could only carry the Bacardi name if it was made with Bacardi rum. Our Bacardi Cocktail follows it: 50ml of Carta Blanca with 20ml lime juice, 10ml grenadine and 5ml simple syrup, shaken hard and served in a chilled coupe. The judgment decides what a bar can call the drink, not what goes in a home shaker.
Because the rum is light, the grenadine sets the taste. Pomegranate grenadine gives a tart, fruity drink; a red sugar syrup gives a sweet pink one.
Four dates explain the bottle
Bacardi Carta Blanca: the dates behind it
1862
- What happened
- Company founded in Santiago de Cuba
- Why it matters
- Bacardi dates its light rum to its founder
1936
- What happened
- New York ruling on the Bacardi Cocktail
- Why it matters
- The drink name is tied to the rum when sold
1960
- What happened
- Assets in Cuba confiscated
- Why it matters
- Production moved off the island
Today
- What happened
- Made mainly in Puerto Rico
- Why it matters
- UK bottles are 37.5% ABV
| Year | What happened | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1862 | Company founded in Santiago de Cuba | Bacardi dates its light rum to its founder |
| 1936 | New York ruling on the Bacardi Cocktail | The drink name is tied to the rum when sold |
| 1960 | Assets in Cuba confiscated | Production moved off the island |
| Today | Made mainly in Puerto Rico | UK bottles are 37.5% ABV |
None of that changes how to use it. Treat it as a light white rum a little under standard strength, and shake it cold.
Using Bacardi Carta Blanca
Usage
Our Bacardi Cocktail uses 50ml, shaken with lime, grenadine and a little syrup. Anywhere else it does the job of any light white rum, and at 37.5% it brings a little less alcohol than the 40% our white-rum recipes assume.
Pro Tip
Make the Bacardi Cocktail with pomegranate grenadine, not a red sugar syrup. The rum is light enough that the grenadine sets the whole drink's flavour.
Top Tips
- Count it at 37.5%, not 40%. The difference is small in one drink and adds up across a round.
- It is light, so a sour built on it wants a touch less syrup than one built on a fuller rum. Taste before adding more.
- Shake it cold. The lighter the rum, the more of the drink comes from temperature and dilution.
- If a bar sells you a Bacardi Cocktail, the name means Bacardi rum in New York by court order. At home it is a lime and grenadine sour with whatever white rum you have.
Possible Substitutions
- White Rum: Any clean white rum, though not in a Bacardi Cocktail
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.
History & Context
Facundo Bacardí Massó founded the company in Santiago de Cuba in February 1862. Bacardi credits him with filtering the rum through charcoal and ageing it in oak to make a lighter spirit. The Cuban government confiscated the company's assets in Cuba on 14 October 1960; most Bacardi rum is now made in Puerto Rico.