Havana Club
The rum from Cuba that makes the Mojito and Daiquiri come into their own. Everything about the types, percentages, cocktails and the glass that goes with them.
The light, dry style of Cuban rum
Havana Club began in 1934 with the Arechabala family in Cárdenas. After the Cuban Revolution, production was nationalized, and since 1993 the brand has been marketed outside the United States by a joint venture between the Cuban state and Pernod Ricard. The rum is made in Cuba, where a small group of master blenders, the Maestros del Ron Cubano, oversee the style.
That style is called ron ligero: light and dry. The rum is distilled from molasses in column stills, aged in ex-bourbon casks, then filtered and put back into the cask for a second round. This double aging produces a rum that remains smooth and clear while still having depth. It is exactly the style that Cuban classics call for: the Mojito and Daiquiri work much less well with a heavy, sweet rum.
In brief
What types of Havana Club are there?
Havana Club Añejo 3 Años
The cocktail bottle: aged for three years and then filtered until clear again. Light, dry and with a subtle vanilla note.
Havana Club Añejo Especial
Golden and slightly fuller than the 3 Años, with more wood and caramel. Made for the Cuba Libre and for rum on ice.
Havana Club 7 Años
The first Cuban rum presented as a sipping rum. Tobacco, cacao, vanilla and dried fruit; neat or with a single ice cube.
Selección de Maestros
Casks selected by the master blenders, bottled at 45%. Full-bodied, woody and powerful, with noticeably more body than the 7 Años.
Havana Club 15 Años
Aged for fifteen years and bottled in limited quantities. The house’s top bottle: deep, woody, and full of dried fruit.
Havana Club Cuban Spiced
Rum with added spices, at 35%. Sweeter and spicier than the rest of the range, and primarily intended for mixing with cola or ginger ale.
The 3 Años is the bottle for cocktails; the 7 Años is for drinking neat.
Vanilla, sugarcane, and a dry core
Vanilla & sugarcane
Vanilla, fresh sugarcane, and a light banana note, with oak behind it. Much drier than a flavored rum.
Light and dry
Light-bodied and dry in flavor, with vanilla and a subtle woody note. Exactly what you need when lime and mint are meant to take center stage.
Short and clean
A short, clean finish with oak and a slight peppery edge. With the 7 Años and Selección, it lasts considerably longer.
Flavor profile of Havana Club Añejo 3 Años. The 7 Años and Selección de Maestros score higher in spice and intensity; Cuban Spiced scores higher in sweetness.
Three ways to drink Havana Club
The light Cuban style is made for mixing, but from the 7 Años onward it becomes a rum to drink neat.
As a Mojito
Gently press eight mint leaves with two teaspoons of sugar and the juice of half a lime in a highball glass, add 5 cl Havana Club 3 Años, fill with crushed ice and soda water. Don’t muddle the mint finely: bruising it is enough.
Mojito recipe →As a Daiquiri
Shake 60 ml Havana Club 3 Años, 25 ml fresh lime juice, and 15 ml sugar syrup hard with ice, then strain into a chilled coupe. Three ingredients, making it the test for every white rum.
Daiquiri recipe →Neat or on the rocks
4 cl Havana Club 7 Años in a tumbler, neat or with one large ice cube and a piece of orange peel. Tobacco, cocoa, and vanilla then come through clearly; this is a rum you don’t need to mix away.
Glass: tumbler →The best cocktails with Havana Club
Mojito
Rum, lime, mint, sugar, and soda water. The Cuban summer drink.
Daiquiri
White rum, lime, and sugar. Just right with a light Cuban rum.
Cuba Libre
Rum with cola and fresh lime. Fuller with the Especial than with white rum.
Rum Punch
Rum, fruit juice, lime, and grenadine. Easy to make for a group.The right glass for Havana Club
A tall highball glass for the Mojito, a coupe for the Daiquiri, and a heavy tumbler for the 7 Años over ice. These are the glasses we recommend ourselves.
Everything you still wanted to know about Havana Club
Is your question not listed? Check out our cocktail recipes or contact us.
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