Bacardi Superior White Rum

Review: Bacardi Superior White Rum   74/100
a review by Chip Dykstra (Aka Arctic Wolf)
December 10, 2020

In 1862, Facundo Bacardi and his brother José bought the Santiago de Cuba Distillery and began to distill what would become the most popular commercial rum in the world. Using a method of charcoal filtering, and oak barrel aging  along with a still of copper and cast iron, Facundo created a smoother more refined version of the locally made rum. His smoother version of the spirit became local favourite, and over time, an international sensation.

Of course, Bacardi Rum is not made in Cuba anymore, the Ron Bacardi Company left Cuba in the wake of Fidel Castro’s plans to nationalize all private property and privately held bank accounts on the Island. The Bacardi family moved important trademarks out of Cuba, and using a Bacardi owned plants built in Mexico and Puerto Rico, the company was able to continue to grow. (All of the Bacardi assets which were left in Cuba were lost including the distillery in Santiago.)

Bacardi Superior White Rum is a direct descendant of the original rum which Facundo Bacardi produced back in 1862. Although production methods have undoubtedly changed since then, the Bacardi White Rum is still produced using a method of oak barrel aging (for one to two years) and charcoal filtration.

In Canada the rum is sold at 40 % alcohol by volume.

In the Bottle 4/5

I have a nice bottle shot of the Bacardi Superior White Rum to the left. The presentation is simple and understated. It is obvious that economics is the motivation behind this design which is functional but not especially stylish. The bottle is designed to fit easily into your bar collection; it is easy to hold and easy to pour. I am not a fan of metal screw caps, but because the Bacardi Superior is a mixing rum which is priced very economically in my market, I will not judge the presentation too harshly in this case. It could also be said that the Bacardi name alone is sufficient to draw attention to the rum.

In the Glass 7.5/10

I poured a healthy shot of rum into my glass and examined it. The rum appears to be crystal clear in my glass; a quick tilt of the glass and a slow swirl reveals a light coating of rum on the side of the glass which coalesces into thin legs running down the inside of the glass back into the rum. The aroma of the rum is of light caramel tainted with almond and citrus zests. I notice some medicinal scents and some raw vegetal tones that seemed to hint that the rum was subject to a wider distillation cut than a more premium white rum would be.

In the Mouth 44/60

My initial impression is that Bacardi Superior is a dry rum with a few rough spots. I taste wisps of almond and vanilla which is perhaps because the version sold in Canada must be aged for one year in oak to be legally sold here, and that oak aging may have left remnants of those typical flavours within the rum even though it was filtered clear. The rum tastes grassy in the mouth with impressions of menthol. I also note  flavours of banana citrus zests gaining strength as I sip.

The rum is certainly a mixer and not a sipper so I decided to build a few cocktails. I began with a simple rum and cola (with a splash of lime). The ratio suggested for the Cuba Libre’ style drink on the website was 1 part rum to two parts cola. Although it tasted okay, I was not really inspired to venture further into the cola realm for mixing.

Knowing that Bacardi is famous for Daiquiris, I decided to mix a few of those next. I followed the instructions on the website for three separate Bacardi Daiquiris (See recipes below). Again even though I was mixing with fresh fruit and followed the Bacardi recipes meticulously I cannot say that the cocktails were inspiring. I did enjoy the Daiquiri No. 2, but I would be hard pressed to serve the other two drinks to my friends. I found I had to add ice to the first daiquiri to quell some odd metallic aftertastes.

In the Throat 11/15

That odd aftertaste I noticed in my cocktails was annoying. I found that once I had noticed the aftertaste that it seemed to follow the rum in all of my subsequent tasting sessions.

The Afterburn 7.5/10

I wasn’t enthused with respect to Bacardi Superior White Rum. I note that this follows a similar theme to my previous reviews of the spirit. But since my last look at the Bacardi White Rum was seven years ago I thought a fresh look was warranted. My opinion did not change, the rum is strictly a mixer.

If you are interested in comparing more scores, here is a link to my other published Rum Reviews.

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Recipes

The following recipes were found on the Bacardi Website and follow a construction slightly different from how I would normally build each cocktails. I chose to construct each cocktail as instructed on the Website to try to enjoy this rum in the manner which was intended by its creators.

Bacardi Daiquiri

2 ounces Bacardi Superior
1 ounce of fresh lime juice
2 heaping teaspoons of fine sugar
cubed ice
crushed ice

Add all of the ingredients into a metal shaker
Add a 50-50 mixture of cubed ice and crushed ice
Shake vigorously until the outside of your shaker frosts.
Double strain with a fine strainer
Garnish with Lime
(Note: I chose to add a little ice which is an optional element)
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Daiquiri No. 2

2 1/2 ounce Bacardi
2/5 ounce Orange Curacao
2/5 ounce Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice
heaping teaspoon of sugar
2/5 ounce Fresh Squeezed lime juice
1 Scrape of orange zest

Add all of the ingredients into a metal shaker
Add a 50-50 mixture of cubed ice and crushed ice
Shake vigorously until the outside of your shaker frosts.
Garnish with Grapefruit zest strips

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Daiquiri No. 3

2 1/2 ounce Bacardi
2/5 ounce Maraschino Liqueur
3/5 ounce Fresh Squeezed Grapefruit Juice
heaping teaspoon of sugar
2/5 ounce Fresh Squeezed lime juice

Add all of the ingredients into a metal shaker
Add a 50-50 mixture of cubed ice and crushed ice
Shake vigorously until the outside of your shaker frosts.
Strain into a cocktail glass

I found the instruction to use half cubed ice and half crushed ice very interesting as the crushed ice will melt and might add more water to my cocktail than I would normally prefer, but when I examine the recipes, I find each calls for less juice than I would prefer as well.  In the end I made the cocktails in the manner that Bacardi suggests on their website.

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You may (loosely) interpret the scores as follows.

0-25     A spirit with a rating this low would actually kill you.
26-49   Depending upon your fortitude you might actually survive this.
50 -59  You are safe to drink this…but you shouldn’t.
60-69   Substandard swill which you may offer to people you do not want to see again.
70-74    Now we have a fair mixing rum or whisky.  Accept this but make sure it is mixed into a cocktail.
75-79    You may begin to serve this to friends, again probably still cocktail territory.
80-84    We begin to enjoy this spirit neat or on the rocks. (I will still primarily mix cocktails)
85-89    Excellent for sipping or for mixing!
90-94    Definitely a primary sipping spirit, in fact you may want to hoard this for yourself.
95-97.5 The Cream of the Crop
98+       I haven’t met this bottle yet…but I want to.

Very loosely we may put my scores into terms that you may be familiar with on a Gold, Silver, and  Bronze medal  scale as follows:

70 – 79.5    Bronze Medal (Recommended only as a mixer)
80 – 89.5     Silver Medal (Recommended for sipping and or a high quality mixer)
90 – 95         Gold Medal (Highly recommended for sipping and for sublime cocktails.)
95.5+            Platinum Award (Highest Recommendation)