Hedonism in Havana

1. Hedonism in Havana

2. Cars, Cigars, and Rum!

3. República de Cuba
 Cuba encompasses one large island and several small islands
 100 miles south of Florida
 42,803 square miles
 Climate semitropical or temperate
 Coastline is marked by bays, reefs, keys, and islets
 Southern coast stretch lowlands and swamps
 ½ Cuba consists of flat/rolling terrain, remainder is mountainous
 Eastern Cuba is dominated by the Sierra Maestra mountains
 Central Cuba contains the Trinidad (Escambray) Mountains
 Western Cuba contains the Sierra de los Órganos
 Cuba: multi-ethnic country
 People, culture and customs derive from aboriginal peoples, Spanish
colonialism and African Slaves
 500 years of history provided a well-defined sense of culture

4. Conquistadors, Privateers and Buccaneers
 Pre-Columbian, Cuba was home to Arawaco tribes, warring Caribes
and finally, Taínos, Ciboneyes and Guanahatabeyes
1492: Christopher Columbus landed on (Near Bariay Key) October 28th
1515: San Cristobal de la Habana founded
 Havana’s harbor: A blessing and a curse
 Large interior could easily accommodate squadrons of ships
 Gulf Stream winds allowed ships to easily exit east to Europe
 Originally a trading port; suffered regular Pirate attacks
1563: Spanish Governor moved residence from Santiago de Cuba to Havana
 Havana’s did not immediately become the capital of Cuba
 Santiago de Cuba remained the capital from 1522 until 1589
1592: King Philip II of Spain granted Havana the title of City (ciudad)
 Designated as "Key to the New World and Rampart of the West Indies"

5. Habana, Cuba
(aka City of Columns)

6. Sugar & Slaves
 Sugar: Cuba's great blessing and curse, just as much as her
convenient location and size, her tropical climate and her rich soil
 Second voyage to the "new world," Colombus brought sugar cane cuttings
 Planted and grown by the indigenous Taíno
1512: King of Spain authorized introduction of black slaves into Cuba
1523: Spain began growing sugarcane in Cuba
1555: About 700 black slaves exist in Cuba
1576: Three ingenious (sugar mills) established
 Ingenios required from eighty to one hundred slaves each

7. Sugar & Slaves
1740: Havana Company formed
1762: Britain captured Havana during the Seven Years’ War with France
 During British occupation colonists expanded plantation system and
imported more African slaves
 1512 -1763: Slaves imported into Cuba approximately 60,000
 35 years after British occupation - slaves imported was about 100,000
1791: Haitian Revolution: Cuban planters saw opportunity to transform
Cuba into sugar-producing "pearl of the Antilles"
 1790 -1865 - number imported reached about 600,000

8. 1763 -1860: Cuba’s population increased from 150,000 to over 1,300,000
 Slaves increased from 60,000 (1770s) to 600,000 (1865)
o One-third of the island’s population
 Slaves on sugar plantations were subjected to harshest conditions
 Field work lasted up to 20 hours during harvest season
 Forced to reside in barracoons, slaves were locked in at night, getting
about three to four hours of sleep
 Life expectancy was seven years
 Mortality rates were 30%
Sugar & Slaves

9. Sugar
1800s: Cuban sugar plantations became the most important world
producer of sugar
 Thanks to the expansion of slavery and a relentless focus on improving
the island's sugar technology….
 Cuban plantation owners insisted on continuing the slave trade, despite
the controversies raised between the Spanish and British governments
1838–80: Expanding sugar mills dominated the Cuban landscape
1850: Sugar industry accounted for 4/5th of all exports
1860: Cuba produced nearly 1/3rd of the world’s sugar
2015: Raw sugar accounted for $378 million of Cuba's $1.4 billion exports

10. Tobacco
 Tobacco in Cuba from 16th century until abolition of slavery highlights the
consistent growth and reliance on enslaved labor
 19th century: Steady consolidation of vegas (tobacco farms) into larger
units of production
 Slaves were structured by labor regimes (sugar or tobacco plantations)
 Easier working conditions on vegas meant women and children could
be as productive as enslaved men
 Tobacco slaves lived in bohíos (huts)
 Prevalence of enslaved women and bohíos meant more were likely to
form families
 1867 Cuba end participation in the slave trade

11. Demographics
 ¾ of Cuba’s population (estimated at 11.16 million) lives in urban areas
 1/3rd are younger than 26
 2/3rd of inhabitants are of European descent (mainly Spanish)
 Nearly 1/3rd are of African origin or mestizo
 .01% are of Chinese roots
 Life expectancy is 78 years, the highest in Latin America
 Cuba’s population is ageing, with 16.5 percent being over 60 years old

12. Cuban Classical Cars

13. "Yank Tanks"
 Cuba under dictator Fulgencio Batista was a popular holiday destination
for Americans in the 1950s
1955 - Cuba was top importer of North American-manufactured cars
 125,000 Detroit-made automobiles
 “Tail fins” that were all the rage in space-obsessed America at the time
 Approximately, 60,000 pre-1959 American cars plying Cuban streets
 “coches Americanos"— or "máquinas"
 Provide crucial income for locals while servicing the island's tourists
 Only cars Cubans can own legally were bought before 1959
 After the revolution, the Cuban government seized all of the cars, and
owns them all to this day

14. “Coches Americanos”
1959 - Fidel Castro and his revolutionaries took over the country
 Castro halted all American car imports and imposed strict laws on car
owners
o The Cadillac does not provide jobs for anyone. The Cadillac does
not increase the wealth of the country. It diminishes it.
~Castro July 1959
 Effects of this policy was the deep-freeze of Cuba’s cars scene
 Castro's stiff laws also prevented Cubans from selling their cars to avoid
the expense of maintaining their “máquinas.”
 Next 50 years, owners of "coches Americanos” needed to improvise repairs
without access to replacement parts
 Cannibalization of multiple cars created Frankenstein automobiles

15. Cuban Cars
 Vehicles in Cuba tend to fall into five categories:
 Original American classics
 Non-original American classics
 Russian cars and trucks
 Newer Chinese/Korean/Japanese vehicles
 European cars—smallest percentage
 Russian cars falls squarely between Cuban Revolution and fall of
the USSR in early ‘90s.
 Russian ZIL troop transport trucks ferrying tourists outside Havana
o “Russian limousines”
 Ladas, Moskviches, and Volgas used as taxis for civilians or private
vehicles
 Chinese/Korean/Japanese Vehicles
o Highest number of the newest cars on Cuban roads are Korean
 Majority of European vehicles older Mercedes-Benzes

16. “Galapagos Island” for Cars
 Vehicles aren’t vintage cars, but have been run on a day-to-day basis for
decades, receiving only the most practical repairs
 Best-looking chromed-up convertibles and coupes are on full-time
tourist duty, cruising the Malecon from Old Havana to Miramar
 Diesels replaced American V6 and V8s, and parts have been replaced with
whatever could be found on the island
 Consequently, the Cuban fleet is more of a “Galapagos Island” for cars”
 Cut off for so long, they've morphed into their own species
 Majority of vintage cars serve as taxi cabs for tourists
 10-15 minute ride could cost tourists around $10
 More preserved more expensive - $15 to $30 for a quick ride

17. Cuban Classical Cars
 Cubans are proud car owners
 To maintain an American car for overs 50 years is a feat worthy of pride
 Outside “Old Havana” more American classics, but in rougher condition
 Original V6/V8 engines have been replaced by diesel motors from
Russian cars (or boats)
o Gas is expensive in Cuba while diesel costs only about half as much
 Like stagecoaches on a dude ranch, these cars have become a part of
Cuba’s identity that visitors want to see and experience
 No doubt this will undoubtedly change over the next few decades

18. Tobacco

19. Tobacco
 Taínos on Cuba smoked for centuries, rolling green leaves from a plant they
called “cohiba,” wrapping in palm leaves or maize and dipped in seawater
 Christopher Columbus credited with introduction of tobacco to Europe
 Columbus reached Cuba he discovered the locals “drinking smoke”
 Tobacco was widely diffused among the Caribbean islands
 Cigar: Derives from the Mayan sikar ("to smoke rolled tobacco leaves")
 The English word came into general use in 1730

20. Tobacco
1492: Three crewmen on Colombus expedition encountered tobacco for the
first time on Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic)
 Rodrigo de Jerez
 Hector Fuentes
 Torres
 Spanish and other European sailors adopted practice of smoking rolls of
leaves, as did the Conquistadors
 Smoking primitive cigars spread to Spain, Portugal and France
1515: Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch all claimed to have brought the habit to
the Old World

21. Tobacco
1542: Spaniards established the first cigar factory on Cuba
 Previously, tobacco grown in Cuba was shipped to Spain to make cigars
 When discovered that Havana cigars survived the trans-Atlantic voyage
better than leaf itself, the “fabricas” (cigar factories) were born in Cuba
1717: Spanish Crown established a monopoly on Cuban tobacco that would
last for a century
 Spanish developed a thriving business exporting tobacco to Europe
 Earning more money from Cohiba’s than ever would from gold
 Cuban tobacco played an integral role in the emerging networks of
commodity exchange of the early Atlantic world

22. Cigars

23. Cigars
 Cuban cigars: Rolled from domestic tobacco leaves
 Filler, binder, and wrapper may come from different parts of the island
 Cigar production in Cuba is controlled by the Cuban government
 Torcedor: A highly skilled and specifically trained cigar roller
 Highly respected in Cuban society and culture
 Travel worldwide displaying the art of hand rolling cigars
 Habanos SA (State tobacco company), and Cubatabaco, control
promotion, distribution, and export of Cuban cigars products worldwide
 These two entities do all work relating manufacture, quality control,
promotion and distribution, and export

24. Cigars
2016: Cuba exported $445 million worth of cigars worldwide
 Cigars remain one of Cuba's leading exports
 Hecho en Cuba: Spanish for made in Cuba
 Hecho a mano: Machine-bunched cigars finished by hand
 Totalmente a mano: Fully handmade cigars

25. Cigar Types

26. Partagás Factory
New Partagás Factory
Corner: Calle San Carlos, Centro
Havana
 < 10-minute drive from former
Partagás venue
Partagás Factory
Calle Industria No. 520,
Centro Habana

27. Romeo y Julieta/H. Upmann Factory
Belascoain N 852 entre Penalver y Desague,
Centro Habana / Tel : +537 870 47 97
Monday to Saturday : 9 am to 5 pm
Sunday : 9 am to 1 pm
Factory
From Monday to Friday : 8.30 am to 3 pm
Entrance : 10 CUC

28. Rum

29. How to make Rum
 Crush the sugar cane and extract juice from the fibrous pulp
1. Proceed to fermenting and distilling the sugar cane juice
 This direct approach yields rum that most closely preserves the
vegetal characteristics of the cane
2. Cook down and concentrate the sugar cane juice into a syrup
 Syrup, a stable sweet product, can also be fermented and distilled
3. Process the juice into molasses and crystallized sugar
 Crystallized sugar is sold as a sweetening product
 Molasses is sold to be fermented and distilled into rum
 Most rum is distilled from fermented molasses

30. How to make Rum
 Fermentation process varies by distillery
 “Natural fermentation:" Yeasts inherent in the environment used to
ferment the sugars in open vats
 Or, fermentation is tightly controlled under laboratory- like conditions
 Most commercial fermentation processes fall between these two
 Distilleries purchase and add specific yeast cultures
 Time is also factor: Some fermentation last only several hours while
others can take up to two weeks
 Designs of stills: Organized into two groups (Pot stills and continuous)
 Each still is hand-built, hence quirks, which have mysterious
consequences

31. How to make Rum
 Fermented liquid is heated in a sealed vessel to @ 175 degrees
Fahrenheit, evaporating the alcohols from the liquid
 Alcohol is re-condensed and collected, yielding the raw spirit
 Raw spirit from the still will be between 70% and 95% alcohol by volume
 Most rum is aged, which radically alters the character of the spirit
 Most rum is blended with other batches from the same distillery,
often marrying rums of different ages
 Most rum is diluted with water - at some point prior to bottling - to
40%-50% alcohol by volume
 Distillation is a science: Success depends a great deal on expertise,
craftiness, habit, mother nature, superstition, and luck!uck

32. Light Rum – a.k.a Silver, or white rum; Little flavor, used in cocktails
Gold Rums – a.k.a Amber rums; Aged longer than light rums. Due to casks used
they have a darker hue and woodsy flavor (stronger taste than the lighter rums)
Dark Rum – Hues of brown, red or black. Aged in barrels for longer time to
gives them a stronger flavor (hints of spices together with strong molasses or
caramel tinge). Commonly used in cooking; Often produced in Haiti or Jamaica
Spiced Rum – Made from mixing different spices. Darker in color and are built
on gold rums (spices used include: rosemary, pepper, and cinnamon)
Flavored Rums - Infused with fruit flavors (i.e. bananas, orange, coconut,
mango, citrus, or lime). Drank alone or mixed with ice (< 40% alcohol)
Overproof Rums – About 40% alcohol (80 proof); common to find rums with
over 75 % of alcohol (150+) in this market: Example is Bacardi 151
Premium Rum – Luxury rum of the market - carefully aged. Drink straight
Types of Rums

33.  Facundo Bacardí Massó, born Catalonia in 1814
 1830 - Emigrated to Cuba
 Rum: Cheaply made and not considered a refined drink
 Facundo: Began to "tame" rum by filtering through charcoal, which
removed impurities
 Aged in white oak barrels - mellowed the drink
 Final product was the first clear, or "white" rum in the world
 Cuban War of Independence and the US occupation of Cuba,
 "Original Cuba Libre" and “Daiquiri” were created using Bacardi rum
 Ron Bacardi: "Ron" = Rum in Spanish
Bacardí Rum (Ron)

34. Havana Club 7 Años
Aañejo – Spanish for “aged”- makes an amazing rum and coke!
 Cuba’s famous rum, Havana Club
 Museum in Old Town colonial townhouse
o El Museo del Ron Havana Club
Avenida del Puerto 262, esq. Sol,
Habana Vieja
Ciudad de La Habana
o 9:30.am to 5:30 pm
 Construction of oak casks to distillation process
 Tasting room/Havana Club Bar:
o Indulge in a “cata vertical,” which is a
sampling of all the rum, in age order
o Havana Club Bar: 9:30 am to 12:00 am.

35. Havana Club Selección de Maestros
 Perfect rum for the El Presidente one of the prerequisite Cuban classics
 El Presidente: Sweet modifiers (orange, curacao, and pomegranate)
 The heavier alcohol, at 45 percent, helps cut through that sweetness
 Incredibly smooth rum
Hints: Tobacco, pecans and chocolate

36. Ron Santero 11 Year
 A beautiful sipping rum that's wonderful with cigars
 This a rum that borders on the world of single malt Scotch
 Aged in oak casks; light and airy
 Under 80 proof, which is why you
could drink it all day without ever
really feeling it!

37. Santiago de Cuba
 In Cuba you drink mojitos- because they're everywhere!
 Cuba and mojitos go hand-in-hand
 Great rum for Mojito’s and Daiquiris
 Full of sweet tropical notes such as banana,
Papaya, and a hint of citrus

38. Havana Club Especial
 Fabulous body with taste reminiscent of Cafe Brulot (New Orleans Classic)
 Notes of burnt orange, vanilla, cinnamon, and a lovely woody note
 A great rum for the iconic Cuba Libre

39. Havana Club 15-Year-Old Gran Reserva
 15-years old; Notes of sweet dark chocolate, tropical fruit flavors, brown
sugar, and spice
 A blend of only the finest aged rums and aguardiente (Fire Water)
 Wonderful with a cigar and even better if it's a Cohiba!

40. Samaroli Cuba 2003
 From Italian company that made a Cuban rum back in 2003
 15-years old: It's not cheap, but if you can get your hands on that, it's
really interesting

41. Useless Male Trivia

42.  Festival del Habano
 February 26th – March 2
 Carnival in Havana
 February/March
WE MISSED THEM BOTH!!!!!
Useless Male Trivia I

43. Useless Male Trivia II
 Bacardi Rum
 Facundo Bacardí Massó, and brother José set up a Santiago de Cuba
distillery in 1862, which housed a still made of copper and cast iron
 Fruit bats lived in the rafters – inspiration for the Bacardi bat logo
 Logo was pragmatic considering with high illiteracy rate in the 19th
century, it enabled customers to easily identify the product

44. Useless Male Trivia III
 How did we get the term “PROOF”?
 “Back in the Day” Nothing worse for a sailor than to be issued
watered-down rum
 To make sure it was real, they’d mix Rum with gunpowder
o If the concoction/rum was higher than 57% alcohol—“overproof”
o It would explode!
 If concoction didn’t explode - It’s was underproof (you’ve been Gypped)

45.  Daiquirí (Taíno origin) - Named for the beach near Santiago de Cuba,
 Invented by American mining engineer Jennings Cox in Cuba during
the Spanish–American War
1909: Rear Admiral Lucius W. Johnson introduced it
to The Army & Navy Club in Washington, D.C.
 Originally served;
 Tall glass - packed with cracked ice
 Teaspoon of sugar poured over ice
 One or two limes squeezed over the sugar
 2 - 3 ounces of white rum;
o Stir with a long-handled spoon (frosted)
 One of favorite drinks of Ernest Hemingway; President John F. Kennedy
Useless Male Trivia III
#46023

46. The End

47. Questions