We’re going to be honest, we had no idea BACARDÍ began life in Cuba. I mean, if we can get arrested for having a Cuban cigar, we just assumed drinking the sweet, sweet nectar that is their rum must surely must be off-limits as well.
To celebrate their Cuban heritage, BACARDÍ enlisted two of the most iconic names in the world of graphic novels—writer Warren Ellis and artist Michael Allred—to create the graphic recreation of the company’s origin story. This is a great idea, because tests prove that graphic novels are much easier than articles to comprehend after you’ve had a few. Entitled The Spirit of BACARDÍ, the story focuses on Emilio Bacardí, son of founder Don Facundo Bacardí Massó, and his tireless work for Cuban independence in the late 1800s. Emilio Bacardí was repeatedly imprisoned and exiled for his belief in an independent Cuba, but persevered, eventually becoming the first freely-elected Mayor of Santiago de Cuba.
The graphic novel also touches upon the early challenges the Bacardí family faced and overcame—including an earthquake that destroyed their city and a fire that ravaged their distillery—and ends with the creation of the original Cuba Libre cocktail in 1900. So the next time you order a rum and Coke, you can drop that little piece of trivia.
The image above is page 11 in the story. To continue on to page 12, click here. You can also download the entire The Spirit of BACARDÍ graphic novel here, and watch a film about the creation of the project below.
