Lecture notes of professor Bacardi

You see rum as a very diverse category, like wine. But is it the case that many rum drinkers will only ever ask for a Bacardi and Coke?

Well, I certainly hope they continue to go ask for a Bacardi and Coke. What I am trying to say is that rums range from very simple products to more complex products. What I like to see is people learning to appreciate the more complex products, because they are out there.

I see myself as someone who wants to educate. It's a matter of setting the table with different plates, and letting them decide which is their favourite.

You learned under Bacardi master blender José Gómez. How important was that process?

José is not only my mentor - he is one of the people I admire most in the world. What he does, he does with so much love and so much passion. To him, it is like an art. Making Bacardi rum would be like painting the Mona Lisa to him.

I have learned to respect and honour that. When you have that, you do this job with a lot of love and a sense of responsibility.

What was it that first made you so passionate about rum?

Learning about this family, about their struggles. From 1959 the Bacardis were bankrupt, then over a 20-year period they became the number-one rum brand in the world. Think about that. Think about everything that you own right now being taken away from you and becoming penniless. To me, that warranted finding out more. I wanted to be part of them.

You've conducted these rum knowledge seminars all over the world. How well do UK bartenders rate when compared with those in other countries?

It is a very sophisticated market. The UK is very knowledgeable, from what I have seen.

If you have more knowledge, you are able to differentiate between one product that is made in a specific manner and our product, which is made in our manner. You are able then to determine for yourself if what I'm saying is just a lot of 'blah blah blah' or if it's the truth.

Tell me about the Bacardi University training programme.

This was developed approximately two years ago. Bacardi came up with a programme held at the Bacardi Visitors' Centre in Puerto Rico, where we made specific courses for people in our field. Some are directed towards bartenders, some are directed towards other employees, some are directed towards people in production.

A course could last up to three days, seven hours a day, depending on how in-depth you want to go. We could make a university course that would last a whole term if we really broke down all the information that Bacardi has.

Maybe in the future it would be nice to see something where our employees can keep on coming back for more information. The experience I have is that a lot of people come down, and then a few months later forget a lot of the things that we told them, so you have to continuously educate.

How do you make the perfect Mojito?

Mojitos are a very complex cocktail to produce. Some people make it very sweet, others will make it very tart. In Puerto Rico, they're served very sweet, in America they are far more tart and they tend to make it with lots of lemon. So it all depends. Whatever works for your market is fine.

It's my round, what are you drinking?

I'm a very simple person. It would be a club soda.

CV:

1991 - Began working at Bacardi

1997 - Started tutorage under José Gómez

1998 - Began training Bacardi staff in Puerto Rico

1999 - Rolled out his training programme internationally and won an Achievement Award for Bacardi (has won 20 awards globally since)

2004 - Bacardi University launched, began teaching there

2004 - Began training bartenders throughout Asia, Central America, North America, Europe, Canada and the UK