It’s now been two years since Philippines-born Troy Arquiza succeeded Joe Gomez in arguably the biggest job in rum. At retirement, Gomez had overseen the liquid output of Bacardi as global master blender for 41 years, more than a quarter of its 160-year history. So big shoes to fill, but Arquiza is no rookie – after training as an industrial engineer, he joined Bacardi as a blender more than two decades ago.
“The passing of the baton from Joe Gomez to me is a bit daunting – this is a big, big brand – but Joe is still with us,” explains Arquiza. “With new products and innovations, we always send samples to him to get his input. Tradition has always been important at Bacardi. We feel we have a winning recipe with how we operate, and our products are appreciated globally.
“But over the past 160 years of the company, Bacardi has always been good at recording everything and the important information is passed from one global master blender to the next. We have this wealth of knowledge and experience that gives us the tools to innovate while maintaining traditions and quality. In my case, I have access to communications that weren’t available in the past, I want to take advantage of that, to be open to new things in the world of rum – be it new blends or ideas for sustainability – and make those necessary changes without jeopardising what our consumers have been enjoying for years.”
Educated consumers
But rum today is very different to how it was when Arquiza joined the brand in the late 1990s, and a far cry from when Gomez took the reins more than 40 years ago.
“A lot of our consumers now are highly educated,” Arquiza says. “During the pandemic, people experimented with cocktails at home and learnt a lot about rum. This led to a demand for nuances in spirits, which rum is able to provide. There’s a flexibility to rum. Being aged in the Caribbean, there’s a fast generation of character compared to, for example, bourbon aged in Kentucky. That character fuelled an increased appreciation of rum and its diversity.
“Now we’re out of the pandemic, and we carry all of those experiences. People still want to celebrate and share experiences, visit new bars, and try new things. People now tend to drink less but much better liquids. Premium rums give our blenders an avenue where we can give our personal touches and the demand for more premium rums is here. But overall in rum we’re seeing a considerable increase, both in the on-premise and in-home consumption.”
But while the evolution of rum continues to gather pace, one constant is the popularity of Bacardi. Outside of Arquiza’s native Philippines, where Tanduay sold 27.5 million nine-litre cases in 2022 according to Drinks International’s The Millionaires’ Club, Bacardi is the world’s largest and most influential rum brand.
But as the world of rum and its drinkers change, Bacardi must move with the times to lead from the front and maintain its relevance.
“We’ve always been about tradition and consistency. Our success has been based on the quality that we’ve maintained over the years.
“Yes, we are at the forefront and one of the largest brands when it comes to rum production, but when we do our process, it has the same amount of love, attention and quality checks that a handcrafted product would.
“But now the level of communication we can have with bartenders and our consumers means that we can listen to their queries or ideas. Some might be good and we can look if it’s possible and play with those ideas.
“If there are new technologies or new ways of doing things in a more sustainable and environmentally friendly manner, then these are areas we have to investigate. Consumers today are more concerned with how we operate and how we do things sustainably. Today, it’s not just about how good our rum tastes, but how we are making our products.”
