UERTO RICO is home to many delicious rums, among them Bacardi. Should you find yourself on the lush Caribbean island, we suggest you drop in on the new Casa Bacardi Visitor Center, in Cataneo, a mere 10 minutes from the city of San Juan.
   Think of the Casa Bacardi as a museum with a little history, culture, state-of-the-art design and, if you include the nosing booths, some aromatherapy. Consisting of seven different rooms, each one is as informative as it is fun. Highlights include a ceiling constellation of the stars exactly as they appeared over Santiago de Cuba on February 4, 1862, the date that Don Facundo Bacardi purchased the first distillery. Bacardi’s roots are deep set in Cuba but when the totalitarian régime withheld all company assets in the 1950s, the company was forced to flee, making Puerto Rico the home of Bacardi.
   The most fascinating room of the Casa Bacardi is an exact replica of the first distillery. Copper smiths in Scotland worked to create a copy of the original copper still used to distil sugar cane molasses to make rum. The room feels altogether authentic and antiquated complete with staked barrels and various historical distillation equipment. This room also tells the tales of the Bacardi family, through the generations, via portraits, old photographs of various family members and original letters. Examining the case of old dusty Bacardi bottles is particularly interesting: you will find that they resemble medicinal vessels more so than delicious tipples.

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Sipping many a daiquiri at the Floridita bar in Havana, Ernest Hemingway is associated with the cocktail—though the refreshing elixir was made before he brought it to fame

MAIN PHOTOGRAPH: The Parrot Club in the evening. ABOVE FROM TOP: The Parrot Club’s signature dish: blackened tuna in a dark rum sauce with orange essence. BELOW LEFT: The art déco bar inside the Casa Bacardi.