Shortly thereafter, after the explosion of the ship the U.S.S. Maine in 1898, the Americans defeated the Spanish in the Spanish-American War. During the American occupation of Cuba, the Company's popularity grew with the invention of two new drinks: the BACARDI Daiquirí, by American Mining Engineer Jennings S. Cox, and the Original Cuba Libre - BACARDI rum and cola - by the U.S. Signal Corps in Havana.

In the following decades Emilio Bacardi expanded the Company to Spain (in 1910), making the Company Cuba's first multi-national corporation. Emilio also expanded the Company to the United States (1915) and built a new distillery in Santiago de Cuba (1922). In 1919, the Company was transformed into a Limited Liability Corporation under the name of Compañía Ron 'Bacardi' S.A.