Bacardi Carta Blanca

Bacardi Carta Blanca is the archetype of the light Spanish style that the company effectively invented, a column distilled molasses rum filtered and blended for lightness, cleanliness and neutrality above all. It is the backbone of the daiquiri and the mojito, designed to lift and lengthen a drink rather than to stand alone in the glass.

Neat, it is exactly what it sets out to be, light and crisp with faint lime and a sharp alcoholic edge, minimal in flavour and finishing thin and dry. This is not a flaw so much as the brief, since the rum exists to disappear into a cocktail and carry the other ingredients. Bottled unsweetened at 40%, it is honest, inexpensive and dependable behind a bar, but drinkers looking for character, oak or fruit to explore will want to look toward an aged or more expressive white instead.