Continuing to celebrate their 150th Birthday, Bacardi‘s consumer brand awareness and promotions appear to have plenty of fans and even the more avaricious among us have noticed the potential to make a quick-buck out of those looking to party with the Bat.

Among this years promotions is their latest competition to ‘Win Your own Legendary Party‘ and up for grabs are a total of 50 Bacardi Party Trunk’s, each one based on one of three cocktail themes (17 Cuba Libre Trunks, 17 Mojito Trunks and 16 Daiquiri Trunks). Valued at £3,000 each, the Trunk’s come complete with several bottles of Bacardi, glasses, cocktail paraphernalia, clothing and even includes a Bacardi representative to help set up the the Trunk in preparation for the winners party. Many of the items are limited edition and won’t be available to buy.

With the tagline of ‘We’ve been throwing parties for 150 years, now you can win one’, the competition is open to residents in the UK and ROI and simply requires you to select your ‘Party Style’, over 5 questions. Each question has 3 choices and there isn’t a wrong answer. After you have answered your last question, you will be presented with what Bacardi believe is your ideal party Trunk and be asked to submit your details to enter. Nothing could be more simple, so for more information and the chance to enter head to party.bacardi.com before the 15th August 2012.

With the competition having already started on Monday 28th May 2012 , with a  couple of draws having already taken place, a few lucky people have already got their hands on their prizes and should have everything needed for a great night. Of course there’s always someone more interested in trying to make some money of off something like this and one winner in the North East of England has already decided to cash in on the popularity of Bacardi by listing their prize on an ebay auction, that saw the seller making £920 after 32 bids.

Now I can’t deny I was keeping an eye on this, having first seen it listed at £30. Of course picking the Trunk up for anything less that £150 would have been considered the bargain of the year, but when it jumped from £130 to £920 a day or so before the auction finished, all I do was watch and see.

Of course had that been me who had won one of the Trunk’s I wouldn’t have put it on ebay. I’d have used it as intended and invited lots of friends to share in my good fortune. Of course, running a Rum Blog and winning a rum based party package, I’m going to say that, so I can’t be too harsh in what I think about someone making money out of such a prize, even if part of me thinks it’s not right.

Of course this kind of thing isn’t exclusive to prize winners as there are other recent examples of people trying to cash in on limited edition Bacardi’s products and the brand’s popularity. These currently include the Buy it now price of £95 + delivery for a set of all 4 of the Bacardi 150 Years Limited Edition bottles in red, grey, gold and blue, despite some of them probably still appearing on supermarket shelves. However, these bottles do at least contain their original content, which is more than can be said of the same set of four, but of empty bottles, with a starting bid of £19.99 + delivery.

Talking of Bacardi promotions, for those of you who have taken a liking to Bacardi Oakheart Spiced Rum, keep an eye out for special bottles in the UK with an offer to send away for Bacardi Oakheart Stein glasses.

So good luck to everyone who has entered the Bacardi Party Trunk competition and remember to keep an eye on Bacardi’s Facebook page for more promotions and competitions.

Today marks the 150th anniversary since the foundation of one of the most famous brands in the drinks industry and who better than Bacardi to throw a party or two in celebration. For those of you not able to attend any of the official Bacardi parties around the world, why not throw your own impromptu party or even just make a Bacardi cocktail and toast Bacardi’s birthday…

For more information on Bacardi’s celebration of “150 years of bringing people together”, check out Celebrating 150 Years of the Bat. Also keep an eye on the Bacardi Facebook page for your chance to get involved with events, recipes, promotions and competitions.

Salute Bacardi and here’s to another 150 years…

In 2012, Bacardi will celebrate their 150th birthday and by the looks of things, everyone’s invited.

When Don Facundo Bacardí Massó purchased a small distillery in Santiago de Cuba on the 4th February 1862, little did he realise that he would be laying the foundations for a business that would go on to become the world’s largest privately-owned spirits company and that Bacardi would one day be the number one selling rum in the world and that it would be sold in over 150 countries worldwide, having won over 400 awards in its lifetime.

Bacardi quickly become known for its quality rum and would go on to be appointed the “Purveyors to the Royal Spanish Household”, as well as being used as the base spirit in both the original Daiquiri and Cuba Libre. It is even named in the first known recorded recipe of the centuries old Cuban Mojito. Even the American Prohibition of the early 20th century couldn’t rain on Bacardi’s parade, when instead of simply shutting up shop and calling it a day for their American interests, they simply invited those alcohol deprived Americans to fiesta in the Caribbean. Rather than hindering Bacardi’s fortunes, Prohibition actually improved them along with a number of other companies such as the airline who for a while promoted their flights with the slogan “Fly to Cuba and Bathe in BACARDI rum.”

While there have been many positives over the years there’s also been the odd bump in the road. The biggest of these was the confiscation of Bacardi’s Cuban interests in 1960. Fortunately for the Bacardi family, they had already long since opened additional distilleries and production facilities in Mexico and Puerto Rico. Fortunately for Bacardi it was a decision taken over 20 years earlier that would ensure the company’s survival beyond their forced departure from Cuba.

Despite this, Bacardi is very proud of its Cuban heritage, as well as its importance and impact on the rum industry and the somewhat impressive numbers that they’ve stacked up over the years. And proving that statistics don’t always have to be boring, take a look at the following quirky Bacardi “Fun Facts” video.

So here we are in 2012 and Bacardi is ready to celebrate 150 years of “bringing people together” and who better to throw a party than someone who’s been helping others do it for 150 years. Throughout the year, Bacardi will host one-of-a-kind birthday parties, launch special promotions featuring 100 years of ground-breaking advertising, introduce a $2,000 limited-edition decanter of rare BACARDI rum, offer travel retail exclusives and commemorative gifts, and much more for consumers to come together and share in the excitement.

Highlights of the year will include:

• Celebrate with BACARDI® at exclusive parties around the world in Berlin, Miami, London, Indianapolis, Madrid, Shanghai, Sao Paulo and cities in between bringing people together to create lasting memories
• Global Cocktail Competition: BACARDI will shake things up this year with a special edition of its Legacy Cocktail Competition, drawing mixologists from more than 25 countries to the finals in Puerto Rico on February 20.
• Enjoy the rare $2,000 Ron BACARDÍ de Maestros de Ron, Vintage, MMXII®. Created especially for the 150th anniversary, it is a blend of the finest rums laid to rest in oak barrels over the last 20 years and finished in 60-year old Cognac barrels, this vintage blend is presented in a hand-blown 500ml crystal decanter housed in a leather case.
• Birthday Cruise: Celebrity Cruises® will mark the occasion with a February 4 party aboard the Celebrity Summit® as it departs from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
• Join the party: Host your own with BACARDI party packs and share the fun on Facebook
• Win BACARDI–branded apparel in social media promotions
• Tour with National Geographic Channel where tradition and technology create BACARDI rum on “Ultimate Factories”

For more details on what’s happening and how you can celebrate Bacardi’s 150th Birthday, keep an eye on www.facebook.com/BACARDI and www.BacardiLimited.com/150.

All that remain for me to say is Happy 150th Birthday Bacardi. Here’s to the next 150 – Salute…