the 'Fist' & the 'Pacifist'

Thursday, June 17, 2004

Hemingway and the Brothers Bacardi!

The Bacardi brothers, Don and Jose setup their first commercial distillery in Cuba on the 4th of February 1862. In the rafters of the building lived large bats, hence originated their famous "Bat" logo.

After the Cuban Revolution in the late 1950's, the Bacardi Company abandoned its operations in Cuba and moved to nearby Bahamas. The Bacardi Company and Fidel Castro, shared a not too pleasant relationship, Castro seized all of Bacardi's assets in Cuba. The company is reported to have counteracted, by financing many anti-castro groups along with the Americans.

Okay, the reason why I embarked on this small trivia-digging endeavor on the Brothers Bacardi is because of the lesser-known Hatuey beer. For those who have read Hemingway's "Old Man and the Sea" will remember the fisherman drinking "Hatuey Beer'.

Apparently Hatuey Beer is a Bacardi Brothers produce, and when Hemingway won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1956, the Bacardi family held a week long festival in his honour!

Cheers ...literally!

lament for icarus

words of wisdom

If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise don't even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives, jobs. And maybe your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery, isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance.