Bacardi

In 1862 A Spanish American wine merchant Don Facundo Bacardi after years of painstaking experimentation created a new rum. By filtering the beverage through charcoal, then ageing it in rum barrels, he perfected a lighter, mellower and milder rum than the rough and unrefined traditional ones of his era. Don Facundo and his brother José first sold it in a shop in a small distillery in the town of Santiago De Cuba in eastern Cuba on February 4, 1862.

The wine merchant and distiller created a symbol for this new Bacardi rum, a picture of a bat inspired by the fruit bats that live in the rafters of his tin-roofed distillery.

Bacardi Bat in the Bacardi Building in Cataño, Puerto Rico By nakashi - https://www.flickr.com

In 1900, the world’s first Cuba Libre cocktail is created in Havana when American soldiers mix Bacardi rum and Coca-Cola with lime to celebrate the end of the Spanish-American War.

Bacardi unveiled Havana’s first skyscraper in 1930: the iconic Edificio Bacardí, designed by the architects Esteban Rodríguez-Castells and Rafael Fernández Ruenes. It is regarded as one of the finest Art Deco buildings in Latin America, 

The company later expanded to the United States in 1944 with the opening of Bacardi Imports, Inc. in Manhattan.  

The Bacardi family of Cuba personally donated thousands of dollars to Fidel Castro's revolution.

In 1993, Bacardi merged with Martini & Rossi, the Italian producer of Martini vermouth and sparkling wines, creating the Bacardi-Martini group. this acquisition doubles the size of Bacardi and opens up powerful distribution channels overseas. 

Today Bacardi Limited has a portfolio of more than 200 brands and labels. The company employs more than 7,000 people with sales in approximately 170 countries.

Source Bacardi's official website