There are elements of our identity that must necessarily be considered part of Cuban culture. Clothing, dishes from our kitchen, phraseology, 100% Cuban and genuine products… Our Havana Club rum, an icon among the world’s light rums, comes from the deepest roots of the nation, such as molasses. of sugar cane.
And why bring up our Havana Club? It’s simple, drinking a sip of this rum is like taking a forced foot to pay homage to the country, a glass of a multivariate showcase that needs to be shown to the world, wear its suit of reality, quality, poise and bouquet, enchant with its shades and aroma, captivate the Cuban and the visitor…
Especially in the midst of hostile media campaigns that seek to tarnish the image, tranquility and life of a country that strives daily to overcome difficulties, often against the current, to banish demons, load the bag of energy and attack not a few windmills, one of them of gigantic magnitudes and an armored and intensified structure called a blockade.
Then, culture must emerge as that shield of the nation, as a powerful weapon to face all kinds of attacks, and everything that can enrich it, strengthen it, must undoubtedly be added to this constant struggle.
So, if we are talking about Cubanness, culture, and “knight of honor and prestige” among light rums, we must necessarily go to Havana Club. And if we retrace the streets of our Havana, our Old Havana, I believe and recommend, you should make a mandatory stop at the Rum Museum, which precisely this Thursday, March 31, celebrated its 22nd anniversary.
Experience, a pleasant sip, treat chimes
Imagine that the scorching sun of a day X, our climate is summer par excellence, is feeding your intellect with a practical history class in the heart of Old Havana, that your body, after dialoguing at every step with cobbled streets, full of stories, among door knockers corroded by rust, colossal doors and imposing colonial mansions, you come across the one located on Avenida del Puerto (former Calle San Pedro), corner Sol. There, with a sui generis magnetism, the old residence will catch you of the Bishop of Espada, whose eclectic architectural style distinguishes it since it was built around 1772.
So don’t think twice and treat yourself to 45 minutes of shade, passages you may not know, Cuban history linked to the origin of our main light rum. Especially if this piece of your time will be delivered with the complicity of a good cocktail, a 7-year-old shot, or a selection of masters, and the possibility of pairing these blessed liquids with a good tobacco, another indisputable piece of Cuban identity.
This is how he is surprised by a replica of the Giraldilla, symbol of the HaVana Club brand, at the entrance of the property, as if it were an irreplaceable company lady. This is how you will climb the stone steps that have survived the passage of centuries, you will stand at the foot of the stairs, you will launch a first 360-degree look and your log of expectations will be at the limit… right under that pictogram you will be surprised by the chimes.
Yes, a wake-up call like Silence! shocking of the Fortress of San Carlos de la Cabaña before 9 at night. Yes, the time of the cannon shot, another piece of identity that has been religiously repeated on a daily basis against all odds for centuries.
Back at the Rum Museum, the chimes that mark the beginning of a journey, which will allow you to delve into the history of the most iconic of our rums, in one of its dwellings, such as the Rum Factory of Santa Cruz del Norte and the factory in San José de las Lajas, laboratories where mixtures, aging, knowledge, barrels and meticulous care are intertwined to see the different products of the Havana Club range germinate.
A journey that can be undertaken in five languages (English, German, Spanish, Italian and French), because that is the scope of our rum and its philosophy of enchantment: universal, like football. Once on the second floor, he opens his arms to you on a journey through the history of Cuban light rum, how Christopher Columbus introduced sugar cane on his second trip to the island and how sailors drank tafia, a kind of very primitive distillate, precursor of brandy, which is precisely the base of our rums.
But to remain impregnated with history, rub your hands with that characteristic aroma that the brandy gives off, let yourself be carried away by it as if it were a sensory compass, you also have to recreate life in a mill, where sugar is produced, and also , molasses, primary raw material for the manufacture of rum.
Thus, between gigantic bins and imposing wooden mills, initially worked by hand and with animal traction, we later arrived at the sugar mill. Or to a modeled representation of it, with the train transporting cane on a singular journey, from the cut to the devouring machines, the guarapo, the lights, voices and every element that makes up that musicality full of life, which for years and years constituted the heartbeat of many communities on our island, and that still is today, although to a lesser extent.
The complicity of the lights, the gigantic barrels, the brandy with its spirit throughout the room… it’s time to talk about processes, distillation, fermentation, aging… bottled nectar ready to taste. This is how time passes, the 45 minutes come to an end, but in that epilogue we chose the perfect verb: to taste.
And paraphrasing a popular salsa theme, like everything that goes up must fall, with your feet on the ground, your hands on a precious wooden bar, some mirrors that will ensure that you eternalize your “ shot” of 7 Years or Selection of Master, let yourself be carried away by the pleasure of drinking Havana Club, from the entrance to your mouth, passing through the nose and the palate, in that singularly exquisite journey that allows its aftertaste to send a message to the brain simply asking for more… Give it more, a little more pleasure mixed with responsible consumption.
And also give him the possibility of taking a bottled piece of culture and Cubanness home with him, to counteract the frigid winter temperatures, to refresh his memory when he wants to revisit the most pleasant passages of this island that will always receive him with open arms, a smile and cordiality of its people, its old cobbled streets full of history and… its good Havana Club that will practically make your return a promise.
