Bacardi has announced a new national rollout of Havana Club Puerto Rican rum.
The expansion features new bottle packaging, the introduction of a dark rum variant, Havana Club Añejo Clásico, to complement the existing Havana Club Añejo Blanco, and the launch of a new brand campaign titled “The Golden Age, Aged Well.”
The Havana Club Añejo Clásico will make its debut in Florida this June, with expansion continuing throughout the United States this summer.
Following the distribution in Florida, both rums will rollout nationally in Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas beginning in July and August. The remaining states will start to see Havana Club in their local liquor stores and high-end restaurants in September.
Havana Club rum is based on the original recipe created by the Arechabala family in Cuba in 1934, the company says, “capturing the exuberant spirit of the Golden Age in Havana, a period of time that spanned from the 1920s, when people flocked to the island during prohibition, through the 1950s when everything stylish and glamorous reigned supreme.”
The crest on every bottle is a reminder of the brand’s gilded origins. Further celebrating the rums’ Cuban historical heritage and the decadence of the island’s best-known era, Havana Club rums will feature brand new packaging design inspired by the brand’s history and original packaging. The bottles feature a center seal which has been prominently featured on packaging and advertising since the brands inception in 1934.
The crest, created by the Arechabala family, is surrounded by hand-lettered typography reminiscent of this bygone time period.
To create Havana Club Añejo Clásico, the rum begins with bases that are mellowed in oak casks between one to three years, before being chosen for selective filtration and blending. Upon blending, the Master Blenders return the rum to oak casks for a second mellowing period of at least three months for additional smoothness. The result is a liquid with notes of sweet fruits akin to pineapple and apricot, the company reports, complemented by oaky notes with hints of almond and vanilla.
Each bottle of Havana Club Añejo Blanco is created with sugarcane molasses and is double aged in oak barrels in the Caribbean climate of Puerto Rico. The rum is made with bases that are aged for a single year, before selective filtration and blending. After they are blended, the Master Blenders return the rum to oak casks for a second aging period of at least two months. The result is a liquid with notes reminiscent of tropical fruits and floral notes, the company reports.
Along with the new product and packaging, the brand is also introducing a new creative ad campaign, “The Golden Age, Aged Well,” which evokes the “glamorous, effervescent feeling of the Golden Era in Cuba and pays tribute to the historical Cuban Golden Age heritage of Havana Club,” the company says.
Tag lines for the ad campaign include “The Freedom, The Decadence, The Dazzle, The Glamour. If Only Someone Had Bottled It,” “Even A Revolution Couldn’t Topple The Rum,” and “Always True To Its Rumba Loving Soul.”
With a focus on Miami, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Denver, Las Vegas, New York City, and Philadelphia, the advertising campaign will be executed through programmatic buying to distribute high-impact and native media including custom videos and cocktail education, reaching a sophisticated consumer through private marketplaces, geo-based spot and digital radio and mobile location. Out-of-Home advertising will be implemented throughout Miami, Fla.
Havana Club Añejo Blanco has a suggested retail price of $19.99 and Havana Club Añejo Clásico for $21.99 — both per 750-ml. bottle.
