Rum cocktails

What rum is

Rum is distilled from sugar cane products, mostly molasses, sometimes fresh cane juice. It is made across the Caribbean, Latin America and far beyond, and there is no single global standard. That is why rums vary so widely in flavour, colour and strength, and why the label alone rarely tells you everything.

Useful styles for the bar

• Light or white rum: clean, dry and fresh. The classic choice for a Daiquiri or a Mojito.
• Aged or gold rum: rested in wood, with vanilla, caramel and dried fruit notes. Good for Mai Tais, Old Fashioned variations and stirred drinks.
• Dark rum: often coloured and sweeter, with molasses depth. Used in the Dark and Stormy and many punches.
• Jamaican rum: often pot still distilled and known for intense, fruity and funky aromas.
• Rhum agricole: made from fresh cane juice, mainly in the French Caribbean, grassy and vegetal. The base of the Ti' Punch.
• Overproof rum: bottled at high strength, used in small quantities as an accent in tiki drinks.

Choosing a bottle

If you start with one bottle, pick a good white rum for sours and highballs. Add an aged rum next for stirred drinks and richer tiki recipes. Spiced rum is a flavoured product and does not replace plain rum in classic recipes.

Typical ratios

The Daiquiri uses 60 ml white rum, 25 to 30 ml lime juice and 15 to 20 ml simple syrup, shaken hard. A Mojito builds 50 ml rum with lime, sugar, mint and soda over ice. Aged rum works well in a 60 ml Old Fashioned with a little syrup and bitters.