Havana Club
| Havana Club International, SA Havana Club Holding, SA |
|
|---|---|
| legal form | |
| founding | November 1993 |
| Seat |
 Cuba(Havana Club International, SA) Luxembourg (Havana Club Holding, SA)  |
| management | Marc Beuve Mery (2009) |
| Number of employees | ~ 1000 (2007) |
| sales | $ 200 million (2006) |
| Branch | Liquor maker |
| Website | www.havana-club.com |
Havana Club is a brand of Cuban rum and was introduced to the market 1935th In 2007, the rum was among the top 30 best-selling spirits worldwide on the Impact ranking of international premium spirits brands . After the French company Pernod Ricard took over international sales in 1993, sales of rum rose sharply worldwide. Bacardi was able to obtain the trademark rights in the USA through strong lobbying and sells a rum there under the same name. In Germany , the Añejo 3 Años and the Añejo 7 Años are Havana Club's best-selling products.
history
The origin of Havana Club is closely linked to the name José Arechabala . The native Basque came to Cuba from Spain in 1862 at the age of 15 . In 1878 he founded the rum distillery La Vizcaya (Spanish for the Biscay ) in Cárdenas , in which the Havana Club was later to be distilled. In the following years, the distillery's sales grew steadily. In 1921 she merged with other local distilleries to form a company called José Arechabala SA . The first president was the then 75-year-old founder José Arechabala, who died two years later. This was followed by a short period characterized by various family tragedies and thus by changing company heads, which ended in 1926 with the appointment of Arechabala's great-nephew José Fermín Iturrioz y Llaguno as the new company manager.
The year of birth of the Havana Club brand is 1935. That year the distillery sold rum under this name for the first time. At the same time, she began exporting to the USA and had trademark rights registered there. In the same year the Havana Club Bar was opened at the Plaza de la Catedral in the center of Havana , which attracted an increasingly international audience.
The big turning point in the company's history came in 1960 when the company José Arechabala SA was nationalized as a result of the Marxist principles of the revolutionaries around Fidel Castro and incorporated into the state-owned company Cubaexport . The previous owner family, Arechabala, emigrated to the USA via Spain after their expropriation without compensation. The end for the Havana Club distillation in Cárdenas came in 1970, when production was relocated to the newly built distillery in Santa Cruz del Norte and expanded considerably. In 1973 the trademark protection of Havana Club, which was still owned by the Arechabala family, expired. Since these did not extend the trademark rights, Cubaexport registered the trademark in around 70 countries. In the following decades the rum was then mainly exported to the Warsaw Pact states , 70% of which to the USSR alone . A sale in the USA has been ruled out since the revolution due to the US embargo against Cuba .
In November 1993, on the one hand, Cubaexport as the owner of the distillery and Cuba Ron as the central Cuban distributor and, on the other hand, Pernod Ricard founded a joint venture. This sees u. a. proposes that Pernod Ricard sells Havana Club products worldwide, while Cuba Ron sells Pernod Ricard products in Cuba. Since the beginning of this cooperation, sales at Havana Club have risen continuously at double-digit annual growth rates. The joint venture was able to increase its sales in 2008 by 13% compared to the previous year to 30.6 million liters. Germany has become the main sales market, with sales increasing by 26% in the same period. Havana Club is now sold in 125 countries.
In 2000, the Fundación Havana Club opened a museum in Old Havana that is dedicated to the company and its products and had its millionth visitor at the beginning of 2009. Another distillery was opened in San José in 2007, which, according to the company, cost 66 million US dollars. It is the most modern distillery in Cuba and with a capacity of 12,000 bottles per hour also one of the largest distilleries in the world. Only brown rum is produced in it. Sales in the USA are still excluded. The Cuban government puts the lost income from its share in the joint venture at $ 28.4 million so far (2005).
Pernod Ricard's sales target is to increase sales to 5 million boxes (9 liters each) by 2013 and to develop the brand into the world market leader in the segment of older brown rums.
logo
The logo shows La Giraldilla (from Spanish: giralda = weather vane in human or animal form), the famous bronze weather vane in female form on the bell tower of the Castillo de la Real Fuerza near the entrance to the port of Havana. It is considered the unofficial landmark of the city.
Trademark dispute with Bacardi
Despite the expropriation by the Cuban government in 1960, the Arechabala family sold the Havana Club brand to Bacardi in 1995 . As a result, Bacardi began to exert massive influence on politics in order to be able to enforce his acquired trademark rights. Because according to the legal situation of 1994 it was extremely doubtful whether the Arechabalas still owned the rights that had now been sold, since they had expired in 1973. In 1995 Bacardi first exported 16 cases of a Bermuda distilled rum of the same name to the USA . At the same time, the Helms-Burton Act , which also went down in US legal history as the Bacardi Act / Law, was pushed through massive campaign donations to selected senators . The law provides that US companies can take legal action against companies that use expropriated property in Cuba.
After the law was passed in March 1996, the Bacardi-Havana Club began increasing imports into a total of seven US states in May of the same year. As a result, Pernod Ricard sued the distributor Galleon and Bacardi in the US District Court for the Southern District . In parallel to the subsequent process, Bacardi continued to expand its lobbying work. For example, Jeb Bush , the governor of Florida, received campaign aid totaling US $ 200,000 and then tried to speed up the process. In 1998 another law called the Omnibus Appropriations Act was passed. Its Section 211 was largely written by a lobbyist Bacardis, who received US $ 600,000 for it, and prohibits the entry and renewal of trademark rights in the US that once belonged to dispossessed Cubans. From this point in time it was no longer possible for Havana Club Holding to extend the trademark rights to Havana Club after the protection period in the USA had expired.
The court process went through several instances and was conducted in different constellations. While Pernod Ricard sued Bacardi for importing the rum, Bacardi tried at the same time to challenge the trademark application from 1976. In the intervening instance, Bacardi was defeated in the challenge of the trademark application, but in the next instance the result was reversed, as Section 211 had meanwhile entered into force. Even the WTO stepped in and declared Section 211 illegal. The US was asked to abolish the law by the end of 2004, which it has not done to date (2009). Finally, the processes dragged on until the trademark protection expired on August 3, 2006. Since Havana Club Holding was unable to re-register the trademark due to Section 211, the cause of the legal dispute no longer applies and the proceedings were temporarily discontinued without a final judgment. Five days later, Bacardi began selling its own version of Havana Club in the US, now made in Puerto Rico . After the US Supreme Court rejected the requested revision of the proceedings in May 2012, Pernod Ricard registered the brand "Havanista", under which the Havana Club rum produced in Cuba is to be offered in the US as soon as the trade embargo which prevents this against Cuba should be repealed.
In Spain, there was also a lawsuit between Bacardi and Pernod Ricard over the Havana Club brand in 1999 . After Bacardi was defeated after several instances in 2007, the company complained to the country's highest court. This rejected the complaint in 2011.
In 2006, Pernod Ricard brought a lawsuit against Bacardi, in which Bacardi is charged with allegedly misleading indication of origin. According to Pernod Ricard, 18% of US consumers consider the term "Havana Club - Puerto Rican Rum" for Cuban rum. Negotiations began in March 2009 and ended one year later with the lawsuit being dismissed. According to the court, the name "Puerto Rican Rum" is enough to indicate that the rum is made in Puerto Rico.
Ownership structure
Havana Club International (HCI) was founded as a joint venture between Cubaexport and Pernod Ricard, each of which has a half-share. With the establishment of HCI, Cubaexport transferred its distilleries in Santa Cruz del Norte to HCI. Pernod Ricard contributed his worldwide sales channels and his marketing know-how . Since then, HCI has been responsible for the production and distribution of rum.
The brand is owned by Havana Club Holding (HCH), which received the trademark rights from Havana Rum & Liquors in 1995 . These in turn received the rights previously from Cubaexport. HCH is also half owned by Cubaexport and Pernod Ricard. Since receiving the trademark rights, HCH has been granting them an exclusive license to HCI.
Cuba Ron SA is the central Cuban distributor for Cuban rum and, unlike Cubaexport, is not a partner in HCI or HCH, but only the sales partner of Pernod Ricard in Cuba. Pernod Ricard and Cuba Ron have entered into a further joint venture which provides for all Pernod Ricard products to be distributed in Cuba through Cuba Ron. In return, Pernod Ricard sells Havana Club's products outside of Cuba. Both Cubaexport and Cuba Ron belong to the Cuban state.
Products
Manufacturing
The Havana Club manufacturing process begins with the fermentation of molasses , which is a by-product of sugar cane production. Since 2007, allowed in Cuba after the decision 135 Resolución the rum only on the basis of this same molasses burned are, while formerly unprocessed sugar cane juice was used for fermentation. Special cultures of yeast fungi are used here, which are unique to every rum manufacturer. The original recipe for fermenting Havana Club from 1935 was taken by the Arechabala family when they emigrated. According to Bacardi, their Puerto Rican Havana Club is fermented according to this.
After fermentation, the resulting mash is distilled. According to Resolución 135, the distillate must then be stored in used whiskey barrels made of white oak , which gives the rum its brownish color.
This is where the work of the so-called Maestro Ronero comes in , who roughly corresponds to the profession of cellar master . He is responsible for choosing the barrels in which the distillate will mature into rum over the next few years. At Havana Club , this has been Don José Navarro since 1971 . The selected barrels differ in many details in order to achieve the largest possible number of different tastes after the maturation process. So the barrel size, its ventilation, its age and the length of its previous use, both as a rum and whiskey barrel, all affect the taste. Both new and very old barrels can be used for the same vintage. A special feature of Havana Club is that traditionally used Jack Daniel’s barrels are used as whiskey barrels . However, it is unclear whether this has been the case since the US embargo against Cuba was in place. Once the distillate has been filled into the barrels, they are stored in the bodega .
When creating a new rum, the Maestro Ronero selects various barrels from the bodega and mixes the matured rum. The resulting mixture is the so-called blend . Once the Maestro Ronero has found a barrel combination that meets the requirements of the management and his taste, this combination goes into bulk filling. In addition to product innovation , Maestro Ronero is also responsible for quality control at Havana Club . Barrels of a year may only be opened for the first time in his presence. Since the individual vintages differ in taste, as with wine, there may also be differences in taste between barrels of the same type but different vintages at Havana Club . However, these tasting deviations are reduced by mixing different vintages into a blend.
Since the individual varieties differ not only in their storage time, but also in the combination of barrels, the age information can only make a limited statement about the taste. The two varieties Cuban Barrel Proof and San Cristobal are very different in taste, although they have almost the same aging period.
sorts
The varieties are arranged in ascending order according to their consumer prices. Unless otherwise stated, all ages refer to the youngest rum contained in the blend.
Volume segment
The youngest rum from Havana Club is the white Añejo Blanco , which is at least 18 months old . The añejo 3 años, which is stored for three years, is more common in Germany . Although it has a golden yellow color due to aging in whiskey barrels, it is also classified as white rum.
The four to five year old Añejo Especial is initially available as a brown rum . It was introduced in 2004 and is mixed with caramel to give it a uniform color . All three types are mainly used for mixing cocktails .
The second brown rum is the Añejo 7 Años , which has matured in oak barrels for at least seven years. Together with the two white rums, this forms the main sales line of Havana Club in Germany. Because of its distinctive taste, it is only moderately suitable for cocktails and is therefore mainly drunk neat or on ice.
In Germany - in contrast to Italy or Switzerland, for example - the five to six year old Añejo Reserva is rarer .
High price segment
The varieties listed here are generally brown rums.
In 2004, the ten-year-old Cuban Barrel Proof was released as a completely new creation. It is produced in a particularly complex way. The resulting rum is matured again in young oak barrels and then bottled from there. The Cuban Barrel Proof is the only Havana Club rum that is not a blend, i.e. rum of a single vintage and usually between 9 and 12 years old. Blends, on the other hand, are mixed from different vintages. The rum won the gold medal in 2004 at the International Review of Spirits 2004 competition held by the Beverage Testing Institute in Chicago and in 2006 at the 24th International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC) . In the latter case, he was also awarded the title Best in Class . In 2010, the Cuban Barrel Proof received a new bottle design and a new outer packaging with a wood look and has since been offered under the name Selección de Maestros , the recipe remained unchanged.
The 15-year-old brown Añejo Gran Reserva is the longest-running representative in this segment.
On the occasion of Havana's 480th anniversary , a twelve -year- old rum named San Cristóbal de La Habana Añejo Solera was released in 1999 . This was not exported, so bottles are rarely available in Europe.
The Máximo Extra Añejo , which is designed as the brand's top product , was also newly created . This is a blend of the best vintages since the distillery was founded, according to the company's own statements, of which only 100 bottles of 0.5 liters each are filled. The bottles are hand-blown, corked and sold with a certificate of authenticity hand-signed by the head filler. When it was launched, CubaRon announced a suggested retail price of $ 1200.
More varieties
An alcopop called Loco is produced for the younger target group . Lime, mango, pink grapefruit and passion fruit juices are mixed with añejo blanco. In the main sales market of Italy, over ten million bottles were sold in the first eight months of the launch year 2003. Due to the alcopop tax , Loco was never sold in Germany.
A rather atypical rum was produced with Exquisito , which, unlike all other Cuban rums, did not use molasses for production, but only sugar cane juice. Therefore it was more like the French Rhum agricole than a Cuban rum. Exquisito was never sold directly in Europe and is no longer produced. It is therefore very popular and achieves high collector prices.
In 2016 Havana Club launched a new series, the Tributo series , composed of up to 80-year-old rums . Each edition is limited to 2500 bottles a year, all of which are numbered and signed.
Web links
- Havana Club Official Website
- History of José Arechabala SA on delafe.com (English)
- Blog on the legal dispute between Pernod Ricard and Bacardi on havanaclubrum.com (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Pernod Ricard brand presentation: 15 Strategic Brands ( Memento from November 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), page 32, 2007/08, PDF
- ↑ Guia de Cuba ( Memento of September 26, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), Spanish-speaking travel guide
- ↑ History of José Arechabala SA
- ↑ Businesswire.com: "US Government Resolves Havana Club Dispute in Bacardi's Favor; Cuba's Trademark Registration Canceled / Expired" August 8, 2006
- ↑ Cuba invites you to the annual Grand Prix of Havana Club competition ( Memento of the original from August 28, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Cubatravel.cu
- ↑ The official name of Cubaexport is Empresa Cubana Exportadora de Alimentos y Productos Varios , but outside of Cuba the company appears under "Cubaexport".
- ↑ a b Gesche Wüpper and Dirk Nolde: "Message in a bottle from Cuba" , Die Welt , April 23, 2004
- ^ Annual report by Pernod Ricard (1993) ( Memento of November 18, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), page 10
- ↑ Pernod Ricard • Business and Financial Press Kit ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , February 2009, company presentation, PDF , 22 pp.
- ↑ RIA Novostny: Cuba: Rum Museum welcomes millionth visitor , January 19th 2009
- ^ Report by Cuba on Resolution 59/11 of the United Nations General Assembly ( Memento of February 26, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), August 2005, page 38, PDF
- ^ "Madrid Provincial Court confirms rejection of Bacardi's claims to the" Havana Club "trade mark in Spain" ( Memento of November 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), pernod-ricard.com, March 8, 2007, PDF
- ↑ Angela Oramas Camero: The lady of the Castle ( Memento from June 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), in: Granma Internacional from September 3, 2009, accessed on July 25, 2012 (English)
- ^ Ann Louise Bardach: "Cuba confidential: love and vengeance in Miami and Havana", p. 131
- ↑ Pernod Ricard: Havanista®: registered trademark in the US, will be the first genuine Cuban rum to be distributed nationwide by Havana Club International ( Memento of October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Press release on: Reuters.com of May 14, 2012 , accessed on May 15, 2012
- ^ "Bacardi bemoans technicality in Pernod Ricard Havana Club victory" , just-drinks.com, February 4, 2011
- ↑ Phil Milford: Pernod Ricard, Bacardi Start Trial Over 'Havana Club' , Bloomberg LP , March 3, 2009
- ↑ Jonathan Stempel: "Pernod loses lawsuit on Bacardi's Havana Club rum" , Reuters , April 6, 2010
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↑ Stephen J. Kimmerling: Havana club: a case summary and an analysis of selected legal issues. (PDF) In: Cuba in Transition. University of Texas at Austin , August 1999, pp. 120-140 , archived from the original on September 11, 2006 ; Retrieved August 1, 1999 . Havana Club Holding, SA, Havana Club International, SA versus Galleon SA, Bacardi-Martini Usa, Inc. , February 4, 2000
- ↑ Homepage of Cuba Ron SA ( Memento of the original from May 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Overview of the joint ventures of Cuba Ron SA
- ^ "Havana Club rum boss would welcome origin recognition" , Drinks International, March 3, 2009
- ↑ Description of the production process in the English language ( Memento of the original from July 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. and German language website by Pernod Ricard
- ↑ Presseportal.de , September 5, 2004
- ↑ Havana Club Rum Presents New Cuban Barrel Proof , Havana Journal, December 7, 2004
- ↑ Havana Club Cuban Barrel Proof and Seleccion de Maestros ( Memento of the original from December 21, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , RnD Rum Reviews, accessed June 30, 2012
- ↑ Product description from rum-paradise.de
- ↑ Press release on CubaNet ( Memento from August 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), March 2, 2006
- ^ Maria Antonieta: "Havana Club rum and the International Rum Festival in Cuba" , Havana Journal, June 21, 2004
- ↑ Ralf's World of Rum ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , 2004 ff.
- ↑ News: Havana Club Tributo 2016 appears in April | Spirituosen-Journal.de. Retrieved July 7, 2017 .
