The history of Bacardi(2)

Fakundo and his brother Hesai built a small winery on February 4, 1862, and put the previous experimental findings into commercial production. Their first copper and cast iron distiller produced 35 barrels of fermented molasses a day. Fruit bats live on the beams of workshop houses, so bats have become the bat trademark of Bacardi.

By 1890, the company was in turmoil. Emilio Bacardi, the eldest son of fikundo, was exiled for his part in the Cuban war of independence against Spain. Emilio’s brothers, fakundo, Hosai and his brother-in-law (or brother-in-law), Henry schueg, stayed in Cuba to take on the task of maintaining the company during the war. Women in the family went to Kingston, Jamaica as refugees. After the Cuban independence war and the United States occupation of Cuba, the earliest “Cuba Libre” and “deguili” cocktails were produced from Bacardi rum. In 1899, Emilio Bacardi was appointed mayor of San Diego by American general Leonard Wood.