Havana Club Iconica Unión

THE RUM THAT WAITED

In Paris, we experienced Havana Club Iconica Unión first-hand, the latest addition to the renewed Iconica collection. Its story began in 2014, when part of the original Unión blend was returned to cask and left to age.

“If we hadn’t put some of it back in 2014, this rum wouldn’t exist today.”

Asbel Morales, Maestro del Ron Cubano, whom Havana Club describes as the visionary behind the Iconica collection, spoke about the original Unión and the portion of the blend that the Cuban maestros returned to selected casks.

For them, time is part of the craft. Mastering its rhythm is essential to creating the rums in the Iconica collection.

The new Iconica Unión brings together four aged rums from Havana Club’s prestigious reserves. After several years of natural ageing, part of the rum goes back into cask for a further period before entering new blends. Havana Club calls this process continuous ageing and traces it back to the 1970s and the work of the late Maestro Ronero Don José Navarro.

The original Unión grew out of pairing Cuban rum with a Cuban cigar. Over time, the idea broadened to include food, music, dance and the pleasure of coming together. Speaking about the new rum, Asbel also called gastronomy a natural match for Unión.

A selection of the brand’s rums accompanied a three-course dinner, while Alfredo Guerra, Havana Club’s Global Brand Ambassador, talked guests through the aromas of each rum and how best to serve it. Live Cuban music played throughout the evening.

Two glasses, one rum

During the tasting, Asbel poured the same rum into two different glasses and invited guests to compare them. The difference was immediately apparent. The shape of the glass changed how the aromas reached the nose. For its more prestigious rums, Havana Club has developed a dedicated glass designed to direct the aromas more precisely.

Iconica Unión has a deep amber colour with a reddish hue. Havana Club’s official tasting notes list caramel, honey and dried fruit, followed by toasted wood, citrus peel and a delicate hint of tobacco.

On the palate, the rum becomes progressively drier, with a long finish. The oldest component in the blend, according to Asbel, spent around 26 years in cask. When talk turned to the idea that longer ageing necessarily makes a rum sweeter and softer, Asbel challenged that assumption immediately. Time in cask does not follow such a simple rule.

“Every rum in the Iconica collection has a reason to exist,” he said. Each has its own history and sensory character. Unión owes its identity to reserves that waited years for the right moment.

The hourglass

The decanter’s silhouette recalls an hourglass, while gold lines running across the glass trace the passage of time through successive generations of rum. The bottle also bears the Giraldilla, a historic symbol of Havana and part of Havana Club’s visual identity. The presentation box is made entirely of cardboard.

Unión completes the renewed Iconica collection, bringing the total to six expressions.

Part of the original Unión blend could have been bottled with the rest of the batch in 2014. Instead, the Cuban maestros returned it to cask and later blended it with other reserves to create the new Unión.

Twelve years later, in Paris, the result of that decision was in the glass.

Editorial note: AH Magazine attended the Havana Club Iconica Unión launch in Paris at Havana Club’s invitation.

All photography: @timo / Courtesy of Havana Club

Havana Club Iconica Unión, Discover more here.