Cataño near San Juan is home to the largest premium rum distillery in the world. Until now its aging warehouses stayed closed to visitors. A new tour now leads right inside.
Rum is a drink of patience. What ends up in the glass has spent years in a barrel, and those are exactly the years a guest normally never sees. BACARDÍ is changing that in Puerto Rico: for the first time, the brand is opening the doors of its legendary aging warehouses to the general public. A multi-million-dollar investment in new warehouses and in the visitor centre makes it possible, just in time for the company’s 90th anniversary on the island. In Cataño, Bacardi says it operates the largest premium rum distillery in the world.
In the footsteps of the Maestro
The centrepiece is a new 90-minute tour, the Maestro’s Walk. At BACARDÍ the Maestro is the master behind every rum blend and the guardian of a tradition the Bacardí family has passed down for seven generations. Visitors follow the same path a Maestro takes across the site, right into the heart of the aging process, where the rum matures in peace. Inside the warehouse there is a tasting straight from the barrel, and guests learn how aging and blending work as both an art and a science.
“We’re excited to invite guests beyond the tasting room and into the heart of our rum-making process,” says Katalina Puig, Casa BACARDÍ Senior Operations Manager. In her words, the new tour offers a rare glimpse into the aging warehouses and into 164 years of craftsmanship that define BACARDÍ rum.
New warehouses, more capacity
The new warehouses are not just a stage for visitors. They use technology and recycled materials to reduce their impact and work more efficiently, while also increasing aging capacity. The new visitor experience has created additional jobs on site, too. With this expansion, Bacardi’s investment in Puerto Rico over the past five years alone adds up to more than USD 100 million. Edwin Zayas, Senior Director of Supply Chain for Bacardi in Puerto Rico and Jacksonville, sees it as a commitment to exceptional rum and to the craft that has defined the brand for generations.
From Santiago de Cuba to Cataño
The story begins on 4 February 1862 in Santiago de Cuba, where Don Facundo Bacardí Massó founded the company. In the 1930s Bacardi expanded production beyond Cuba, including to Puerto Rico. Bacardi Corporation was founded in San Juan in 1936 and is part of family-owned Bacardi Limited, the largest privately held spirits company in the world. The current facility was built in 1958 on 127 acres in Cataño. The Casa BACARDÍ visitor centre has been there since 1961 and, with nearly 160,000 visitors a year, is the second most visited venue in metro San Juan.
Good to know
Besides the Maestro’s Walk, Casa BACARDÍ offers further tours and experiences, including mixology classes. Guests must be 18 or older. If you want to carry on at home after your visit, start with the classics: our Daiquiri needs nothing but white rum, lime and sugar syrup, the Mojito adds mint and soda. And if you should not drive yourself after a tasting, our piece on partying safely has the key rules for getting home.
