I have found the previous posts of interest and I would like to add the following: The name "Ron Matusalem" is a copyrighted trademark of the Alvarez-Camp family and its successors and assigns. The company that produces the "original" Ron Matusalem Rum was founded in Santiago, Cuba, by Eduardo and Benjamin Camp in 1872. Later, after Benjamin returned to Spain, Eduardo teamed up with Evaristo Alvarez. Eduardo's son married the daughter of Evaristo and their descendants became one family. In the early 1900's the company was renamed "Alvarez Camp & Co." The company experienced tremendous growth in the 1940's and 50's, and by the mid-50's it controlled over half the Cuban Rum market and was the best selling rum in Cuba. Like so many family-operated businesses, it relocated along with the family after the communist take-over of the Cuban government in the late 1950's. At one point, the Cuban government decided to confiscate and occupy the buildings of the old Alvarez-Camp Distillery at Santiago. I don't know whether the so-called "Ron Matusalem" that is produced by the Cuban government is made in the old Alvarez-Camp Distillery or not. However, to me it is a moot point. The name "Ron Matusalem," and its recipes, copyrights, trademarks, etc., BELONG to the Alvarez-Camp Family. If they chose to move their operation to Florida, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, or Timbuktu, is their right and their business. Surely, no one would deny that the Bacardi family and its company did not have the right to move out of Cuba to other countries. Surely, no one would call the Bacardi not made in Cuba a "fake." And yet, the Cuban government continues to use the name "Bacardi." This is an act that is unethical at best and illegal at worst. They have done the same with the name of "Havana Club Rum" which was owned by the "Jose Archabala Company, S.A." and the Archabala family. (I would advise you to see their website at delafe.com/cardenas/arechabe.htm) The "fake" Ron Matusalem is any rum that is NOT made by the Alvarez-Camp family and its legal successors and/or assigns. Now, it may very well be that Alvarez-Camp & Co. made a better rum in Cuba prior to the Communist takeover. Or it may be that they make a better rum today. That is a matter of opinion. I would love to find an old bottle of Ron Matusalem from before 1959. It would be truely nostalgic. I don't know if I'd want to open it before I am on my death bed. However, the Beverage Tasting Institute just recently awarded the "Ron Matusalem Gran Reserva" (produced by Alvarez Camp & Co.) a score of 95. Only three others were awarded higher scores, and these by only one or two points. So, how much better could the old stuff be? (How much better could the Cuban fake be???) I just had the Ron Matusalem Gran Reserva (Alvarez Camp & Co.), neat in a brandy snifter at the Five Twins Cigar Bar at the Atlantis Resort in Nassau, last week and I must say it was one of the best I've ever had. Sincerely, Pierre Goudeau Normand Texas