Category: Rum

Rum is distilled from sugarcane — either fresh juice or molasses left after sugar production. Everything after that, from a crisp white rum to a heavy Jamaican pot still, comes down to fermentation, still type and time in barrel.

This page gathers our rum guides. Pick the question you arrived with; each link opens the full answer.

What Rum Actually Tastes Like

There is no single rum flavour. Light column-still rums lean clean and faintly sweet, while pot-still rums from Jamaica carry the funky, fruity esters people either love or avoid.

Aged rums pick up vanilla and spice from the barrel — the same source as those notes in whiskey.

Brands, Strength and Ingredients

Label wording matters here. A spiced rum has flavourings added after distillation; a coconut “rum” is usually a liqueur, bottled well below standard rum strength.

That difference explains why two bottles on the same shelf can behave very differently in a drink.

Mixing and Cooking

Rum earns its place in the kitchen as much as the bar. Its sugarcane base means it works in desserts where whiskey would fight the other flavours.

Where to Buy Specific Rums

Plenty of well-known rums have patchy distribution. A bottle that fills shelves in one country can be import-only in another.