Hamish Smith digs into which rums sell best in the UK's Best Bars.
Don’t stop the press! Bacardi is – as you might expect – the bestselling rum in the UK’s best bars. And if that is an exercise in confirmation rather than revelation, how the former-Cuban rum occupies its position is more interesting.
This is a rum whose brand is so powerful it seems to transcend environment – it is both a £15 a bottle in Asda and a £15 measure at The American Bar at the Savoy. And it’s the same Carta Blanca. That’s not quite Coca-Cola brand power, but it’s rum’s equivalent.
Bacardi finds its way into glasses in a multitude of ways. First, it has good foundations – it is a brand with history and familiarity. As Paola Mariotti, then of Sterling in Manchester, pointed out, rum is still “a lesser-known but quite wide category” in which guests gravitate to “brands they are familiar with”.
But that’s not enough – Bacardi also supports the trade, creatively through activations and financially through incentives and hard-to-argue prices. So, it is a brand that is competitive, to the point – according to some bartenders – where the profile of the liquid isn’t the pivotal factor. It’ll be interesting to see whether a tightening of the Bacardi purse strings this year has an impact on its sales.
It helps, of course, that the cocktails Bacardi is served in traditionally demand the lighter Cuban style – Daiquiris and Mojitos – and this is a brand which offers a way in, through its more premium styles. All this is a long way of saying Bacardi was found to be the most popular rum at a quarter of our 100-strong sample. It was a top-three rum in 40% of bars.
Its estranged sort-of-relative Havana Club is – also to no one’s surprise – the second choice in the UK’s best bars. A joint venture between Cuba and Pernod Ricard, Havana Club has marketing muscle behind it, though it’s possible it lacks the killer instinct of its Bermuda-headquartered competitor. And that is primarily based on the observation that bartenders appear to love its three year old but don’t all stock it. Led by this entry level expression – though by no means defined by it – Havana Club was the top rum brand in 17% of accounts from our sample, and a top-three rum in 30%.
In third is Campari’s Appleton Estate, which with its Jamaican heritage has had a long association with the UK. It was found to be a top-three rum in a third of our sample and the house in 7%. Maison Ferrand’s Planteray was more likely to be a bar’s house but less likely to be one of the top-three options – 23% of our sample. It changed its name this year from Plantation, but retains a special relationship with bartenders – more than any other, our respondents said their favourite rum is Planteray.
Diplomatico in fifth is one of those brands that a good number of bars stock (23% said it was among their bestselling three), but in price and profile it’s less the volume option. LVMH’s Eminente has made great strides since its UK launch three years ago, offering an upmarket Cuban rum alternative – it was among the three most-used rums at 12% of our sample of the UK’s best bars.
The rich demerara-style rum, El Dorado from Guyana is another that offers a point of difference to the back bar – 11% said it’s one of their three bestsellers, while Bermuda rum Goslings, spiced rum Sailor Jerry and Nicaraguan Flor de Caña were found to have occasional presence.
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