History of Bardinet
The genius of Paul Bardinet
It all started in 1857.
Paul Bardinet, a young wine and
spirits merchant in Limoges, turned his interest to a sugar cane alcohol
landed on the quaysides of French ports, brought from far-flung islands. The
« tafia », as it was called at the time, was no more than firewater for
pirates. Under the roughness of the alcohol, he nonetheless detected an
incomparable wealth of different flavours and aromas.
As he rose to the top of his
profession, Paul Bardinet continued to work on taming the fieriness of his
demon spirit, blending the various origins, followed by long years of maturing
in oak casks. His impassioned labour resulted in an inimitable rum under a
brand that was soon to become known the world over.
NEGRITA rum was born, even if
at that time it has still not been given the name.
From Limoges to Bordeaux
The time came when the company had to leave
Limoges to locate as close as possible to the rum-carrying ships. That was the
achievement of Paul Bardinet’s son, Edouard. He ordered the building of vast
cellar warehouses close to the quaysides of Bordeaux and gradually trained his
master blenders.
Based on the mastery of top
quality raw materials, the company developed a wide range of new products
around its core product of rum, with ready-made punches and cocktails and cane
sugar cordials which very rapidly became popular with consumers. That
successful diversification was followed by other major success stories, in the
field of whiskies in particular.
