At the very top is Bacardí, whose dominance reigns supreme with almost a quarter of our polled bars declaring it their house pour. Its popularity is largely driven by the ongoing success of its Carta Blanca expression and premium aged rums, which benefit from Bacardí’s significant distribution power and the ongoing success of its Bacardí Legacy programme.
Bacardí’s traditional rival, Havana Club, narrowly fended off Plantation to retain its number two ranking, with just one bar’s house pour separating the two brands. Plantation, which is due to undergo a rebrand by owner Maison Ferrand, was the number one rum in 13% of the best bars in the business and remains one of the industry’s most popular brands.
Arguably the biggest story from the bestselling list this year is the introduction of Flor de Caña. The sustainably-focused Nicaraguan brand launched its inaugural cocktail competition in 2021 and continues to work with the high-end on-trade to deliver more sustainable solutions to bartending. Flor de Caña received nearly 10% of the overall votes and finds a place in the top trending ranking, along with the highly respected Bajan rum Foursquare, whose cult following appears to be gaining momentum. Under the stewardship of Richard Seale, Foursquare’s rums have taken some of the biggest tasting awards in the business, including Supreme Spirit in the International Spirits Challenge. This reputation is now dispersing wider than just to rum geeks and industry folk to reach more consumers in the world’s elite bars and could be a brand we see break into the bestselling list in the near future.
It’s also interesting to see Wray & Nephew sneak on to the top trending list as the Jamaican cult classic has always been synonymous with tiki bars, yet evidence would suggest the overproof rum is gaining attention on high-end backbars around the world.
Methodology
The results of this report are the culmination of a questionnaire of 106 bars around the world, each cherry-picked to take part based on their performance in global bar awards. We aim to find out not only which brands sell best but also what’s trending. These two data sets give us an insight into the brands that are doing the most volume and the brands that are hot right now.
To read more on the methodology of the Brands Report click here.
