London – Bacardi is out to show that rum can be as sophisticated a drink as whisky or cognac with its new line of rare sipping rums.
The collection consists of four sipping rums: Facundo Neo, Facundo Exquisito, Facundo Eximo and Facundo Paraíso. Each is made using a blend of reserve rum from the Bacardi family’s collection. Neo, the only white rum, is crisp and vibrant and features younger rums, while Paraíso features the oldest blends of rums aged up to 23 years, and has a deep amber colour and a full, caramel and toasted oak flavour.
‘Sipping rums is a tradition in the Caribbean,’ David Cid, Bacardi brand master, tells LS:N Global. ‘But elsewhere, people often perceive rum as something only suitable for cocktails.’ The goal was to introduce rum with nuances in flavour, to demonstrate that it too can have a complexity often associated with other brown spirits. ‘Each of these products showcases a different approach to what rum can be,’ says Cid.
The Big Picture: Consumers are becoming connoisseurs when it comes to alcohol, and are looking for new flavours to tempt their palates. For more, buy a copy of our Food and Drink Futures 2015 report.