Havana Club
 |
|
| Product type | Rum |
|---|---|
| Owner | Corporación Cuba Ron |
| Country |
 Santa Cruz del Norte, Cuba
|
| Introduced | 1934 |
| Related brands | Havana Club (Bacardi) |
| Markets | Global, except United States |
| Tagline | "El Ron de Cuba" |
| Website | havana-club |
Havana Club is a brand of rum created in Cuba in 1934, and now one of the best-selling rum brands in the world. Originally produced in Cardenas, Cuba by family-owned Jose Arechabala S.A., the brand was nationalized after the Cuban Revolution of 1959. Since 1994 it has been produced in Cuba and sold globally (except the United States) by Havana Club International, a 50:50 joint venture between Pernod Ricard and the Cuban government. Bacardi also produces a competing product with the same name in Puerto Rico, sold only in the United States. The two companies have engaged in ongoing litigation about ownership of the brand.
The Arechabala family founded a distillery in Cardenas, Cuba in 1878. Later renamed Jose Arechabala S.A., the company created the Havana Club brand in 1934, and sold rum under that name in both Cuba and the United States. The company was nationalized by the Castro government in 1960. Subsequently, the Arechabala family left Cuba for Spain and the United States.
The Cuban government sold rum abroad under the Havana Club name beginning in 1972, focusing primarily on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. The government focused on Havana Club because (unlike the Barcardi family) the Arechabala family had not established plants outside of Cuba and so could not produce a competing brand. The company was considered a "national jewel" by the Cuban government, and in 1977 manufacturing was moved to a new plant in Santa Cruz del Norte.
Since 1994, Cuban production and non-US global marketing of Havana Club has continued under a joint partnership between Pernod Ricard and Corporación Cuba Ron.
In 1994, Bacardi began producing rum under the Havana Club name in Cataño, Puerto Rico using a recipe given to them by Arechabala family members. While originally sold in only a few states (primarily Florida), production was expanded in 2006, and in 2012, after winning a critical court battle, Bacardi announced plans to sell the rum more broadly.
The Havana Club trademark has been the subject of extensive trademark litigation in the US, Spain, and World Trade Organization.
...
Wikipedia