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Cuba Is Developing A Taste For U.S. Whiskey
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/cuba-is-developing-a-taste-for-u-s-whiskey/As relations between the U.S. and Cuba have thawed, the arrival of Airbnb and a U.S. hotel chain to Cuba has made headlines. (Starbucks in the land of café cubano serves up a particular image of U.S. cultural imperialism.) But Cuba’s economy was already undergoing a massive overhaul after the government eased restrictions on private ownership of businesses in 2011. That goes for where people eat, too. Dining out in Cuba has begun a transition from mostly informal dining in people’s living rooms to more professionalized spots, including dozens of high-end restaurants in the island nation’s capital.
It’s hard to imagine exactly how this many restaurants function on a daily basis.1 Cuba has struggled with food shortages since the fall of the Soviet Union, and grocery shopping can be a multiple destination endeavor, even for those with money. Improved relations with the U.S. are expected to increase the quantity and variety of food available on the island, but food exports weren’t completely shut off by the embargo — the U.S. has been exporting food to Cuba for the better part of 15 years. After nearly 40 years of embargo, the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act (which passed in 2000, with exports beginning at the end of 2001) allowed direct commercial export of food and agricultural products from the U.S. to Cuba.
Chicken and soybean oil cakes2 have been the top two imports by dollar amount each of the past three years, but in the years after the law passed, wheat, corn and rice (in addition to poultry) often topped the list. The past couple of years, Cuba has purchased grains from the European Union, Brazil and Vietnam, among others, leaving things like whiskey and fresh fruit to creep up on the list of U.S. exports.
While exports peaked in 2008, the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, a nonprofit organization that has put data on food and agriculture exports to Cuba together nearly every month for the past 15 years, says in its most recent report that was due to an increase in prices in the U.S. Imports from the U.S. have decreased in recent years for a variety of reasons, including the increasing influence of China and Venezuela on the Cuban economy.
It’s hard to imagine exactly how this many restaurants function on a daily basis.1 Cuba has struggled with food shortages since the fall of the Soviet Union, and grocery shopping can be a multiple destination endeavor, even for those with money. Improved relations with the U.S. are expected to increase the quantity and variety of food available on the island, but food exports weren’t completely shut off by the embargo — the U.S. has been exporting food to Cuba for the better part of 15 years. After nearly 40 years of embargo, the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act (which passed in 2000, with exports beginning at the end of 2001) allowed direct commercial export of food and agricultural products from the U.S. to Cuba.
Chicken and soybean oil cakes2 have been the top two imports by dollar amount each of the past three years, but in the years after the law passed, wheat, corn and rice (in addition to poultry) often topped the list. The past couple of years, Cuba has purchased grains from the European Union, Brazil and Vietnam, among others, leaving things like whiskey and fresh fruit to creep up on the list of U.S. exports.
While exports peaked in 2008, the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, a nonprofit organization that has put data on food and agriculture exports to Cuba together nearly every month for the past 15 years, says in its most recent report that was due to an increase in prices in the U.S. Imports from the U.S. have decreased in recent years for a variety of reasons, including the increasing influence of China and Venezuela on the Cuban economy.
Side point I just learned: there are essentially two global whiskey markets: India, which is largely self-contained, and the rest of the world, which drinks and produces less whiskey than India.
23 replies
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I don't blame them either.
"Can’t find what you’re looking for? Ask your local ABC store about making a special order."
I think opening Cuba is not the best thing Obama has done - but definitely the coolest.
Bushmills !
j/k
told us about Bushmills being Protestant. 
They were not wine drinkers, and the only thing I can figure is that they had received them as gifts. The same bottles were there for years.
I absolutely hate whiskey, but I love rum. I know they make great rum there 
