Posted on 08/08/2006 10:14:41 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
Havana Club, the rum that evokes memories of toasts at glittery hot spots in pre-Castro Cuba, is coming this week to Florida bars, liquor stores and hotels.
Coming on the heels of a favorable ruling in a decade-long legal battle with French liquor giant Pernod Ricard and the Cuban government, Miami-based Bacardi U.S.A. is relaunching the Havana Club brand as a super-premium rum selling for $19.99 a bottle.
Thursday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office deemed the Havana Club trademark held by Cubaexport ``cancelled/expired.''
Bringing Havana Club back to the United States is particularly gratifying for Ramon Arechabala. His family created the rum in 1935, and exported it to the United States and other countries until Jan. 1, 1960, when Fidel Castro's government seized the family's plant and trademark.
Arechabala, former sales manager of the family company, said Monday he vividly remembers the day the bodyguard of Cuban revolutionary Ernesto ''Che'' Guevara placed a gun to his head and took over the Havana Club distillery in Cardenas.
In recent years, Havana Club has been marketed by a joint venture involving Cubaexport, a Cuban government company, and Pernod Ricard. Because of the embargo on Cuba, it was not available in the United States.
`NOT DRINKABLE'
Although that Havana Club is popular in both Cuba and Europe, Arechabala declared it ``not drinkable.''
''Fidel lacks the formula of the right Havana Club,'' said Arechabala, 70, who has lived in Miami for 38 years. ``That's the only thing Fidel couldn't take from me.''
In the mid 1990s, Bacardi cut a deal with the Arechabalas for the rights to the family's recipe and the name Havana Club. The brand was introduced in the United States, but pulled from the shelves when the rum war ignited.
At least for now, however, here will be two versions of Havana Club for sale, one from Bacardi and the other from the Cuban/French joint venture.
Bacardi's new Havana Club will be bottled at the company's rum facilities in Puerto Rico. For now it will be available only in Florida because of limited supply.
LIMITED SUPPLY
But Bacardi executives said Monday that based on response, it will likely be rolled out to other key U.S. markets.
The timing of the Havana Club launch has nothing to do with any recent Cuba interest sparked by Castro's health issues, company executives said. And the U.S. Patent Office ruling was just coincidental with their plans to introduce the brand, they said.
Instead, executive said, it's all about capitalizing on strong consumer demand for super-premium liquor brands and the return of classic cocktails such as the daiquiri and mojito. The rum category, where Bacardi is already the top-selling brand in the world, has also been growing.
''We've been planning this for many years,'' said John Gomez, vice president and group marketing director for Bacardi U.S.A. ``We always owned the brand. There was no issue in our minds. It was only a question of when it was commercially appropriate for the relaunch.''
Cubaexport has claimed it obtained the rights to the Havana Club name in 1976 after José Arechabala S.A. allowed the trademark to lapse with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Cubaexport registered the trademark in 1976, but no compensation was ever provided to the Arechabala family.
U.S. courts have consistently ruled that Havana Club Holdings, the name of the French/Cuban joint venture, has no right to the trademark in the United States.
But the issue of who held the trademark remained unresolved until last week's decision.
Executives from Pernod Ricard were unavailable late Monday afternoon.
Unlike most countries, the United States typically gives priority to the first entity to utilize a brand, not the first to register it, said Miami attorney Jim Gale, whose firm Feldman Gale specializes in trademark and patent law.
But a trademark in one country has no impact on operations in another country, Gale said.
BUILDING NEW BUZZ
Bacardi plans to market Havana Club as a super-premium brand, along the lines of Grey Goose vodka, which the company also owns.
It will introduce the brand with trendsetters in South Florida and hopes the buzz will spread.
The product will start appearing locally this week.
Most other premium rums made by Bacardi or other companies are dark rums meant to be sipped, but Havana Club is a clear liquid that mixes well in cocktails.
I heard 0 calories in rum.
0-carbs
0-fat
0-sodium
calories-64/1oz serving
My favorite Rum and Coke substitutes Bourbon for the Rum and leaves out the Coke.
Demerara from Guyana is the best, if you can find it.
Fav's include: Appleton XO (extra old) Pyrat XO Mount Gay Eclipse Bacardi 8 Bacardi Anejo The Anejo is a distict flavor, came across it in Key West and I have been hooked on aged rums ever since. btw Captain Morgan = spiced rum , its too busy for me, try Bacardi 8 if you want a treat, has distict carmel aftertaste.
Lots of rum threads since Castro's (ahem) mis-fortune, huh?
Ping to you, my rum drinking friend!
Irrefutable evidence that Fidel's dead.
venezuelan pampero is good stuff too, or at least it was before the clown chavez and his parrot took over...
down here in Chile you can get the cuban/frog version of Havana Club. make great molotov cocktails or lighter fluid but i wouldn't actually drink the stuff...
Down here in Florida, Flor de Caña, can be found in about half the liquor stores.
Yeah, a Dominican friend of mine was RAVING over Brugal. I think you can get it cheap down in Santo Domingo.
Ron Zacapa Centenario... a 23 year old Guatamalan rum. Sipping drink only, do NOT mix it with anything. It's smoother than any single malt scotch I've ever had.
Try Don Q rum. Distilled in P. Rico. Can be found some places here in the states.
When ordering a "cuba libre" in a foreigners' bar in Havana or Varadero, the bartenders will look around to see if any goons are skulking. If it's clear, they'll correct you and say that it is called "mentira," (a lie), because there certainly is no Free Cuba.
Okay, you convinced me. I look for it in the liquor stores this weekend. Now I have to give it a try.
Not the most important reason to hate every Che t-shirt and bumper sticker I see, but I'll add it to the list.
Does anyone think that the sudden availability of Havana Club might be related to the state of Fidel's health?
PJ, if you find one that sells it, please let me know. I'd KILL for some Havana Club!
Thanks
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