Bacardi Rum

In addition to its value for rapid intoxication, Bacardi rum in particular has a particular point of fascination for darklings. Specifically, it is one of the very few liquors which have a black bat as an emblem. The origin is somewhat amusing.

Bacardi was founded in Cuba, during an era when a large segment of the population was illiterate. Emblems were used to identify particular liquors. Bats were identified closely with rum, because during the night the berry-eating bats would crawl their way into the vats, drink the fermenting sugarcane, and be found drowned in the rum by dawn. The first thing the rum workers would do every morning, was fish the dead bats out of the big vats (nice rhyme.)

The image of the bat has been closely associated with gothdom since its very beginning; perhaps in addition to its vampiric associations, the emblem of a nocturnal beast which drinks itself to death increases its value as a totem to the tribe of the black-clad.

Commentary by Clifford Hartleigh Low, Thursday, May 7th, 1998.