As rum has its roots in the Caribbean, we tend to think of it as a spirit of the tropics. Being on a beach with an umbrella in a cocktail. Sunshine and palm trees. Pirates and islands. Jimmy Buffett and Boat Drinks.
And that is all just fine, of course. Rum fits perfectly into this stereotype.
With that in mind, PubClub.com has tried many rums through the years and recommends these four for National Rum Day, which is Aug. 16. Or heck, they are good for any other day of year, too, because rum is quite palatable if you’re in the tropics or just want to be there.
Koloa Single Barrel Kaua’i Reserve
If the name isn’t a giveaway to the origins of this rum then the artwork on the neck of the bottle is, for it’s a map of the Hawaiian Islands.
Koloa is a small-batch distillery on Kaua’i that has started a growing Hawaiian rum industry. And its products are outstanding.
Kaua‘i Reserve Single Batch Hawaiian Rum is made in single batches, distilled from the pure cane sugar and aged for a minimum of five years in select charred American qhite oak barrels. It has deep amber color and smells of sugarcane with hints of mellow oak, orange peel and a hint of nuttiness. This is primarily a sipping rum tho who’s to say you can’t use it to make a knock-your-socks-off cocktail.
It is surprisingly smooth – surprising because one would normally expect it to burn its way down the throat but instead it almost unassumingly makes its way into the body. The only burn is a brief one on the tip of the tongue. The flavor is not overpowering and, when sipped, doesn’t come after you like an angry Polynesian fire eater. It has more of a hang loose feeling.
“Our Reserve Aged releases have quickly become some of our most sought after and coveted offerings, and this extraordinary five-year aged variation is no exception,” Kōloa Rum president and CEO Bob Gunter said.
It retails for $99.99
Koloa Kaua’i Coconut Rum
Normally, PubClub.com would recommend steering away from coconut-flavored rums because of a perception they are products made for the masses rather than for the rum purist. And while that’s the case with some – the redeeming quality of one popular brand is that it once had Carmen Electra as its spokesperson – it’s just the opposite with Koloa Kaua’i Coconut rum. The taste of coconut is so prevalent it’s almost as if an actual coconut fell out of a palm tree and landed in the bottle.
The quality of the rum is outstanding, too, and it can make something as simple as a rum & soda taste great. It is highly recommended to keep a bottle in the house or on the boat. Better yet, keep two bottles because one is likely to disappear quicker than a pirate’s treasure, especially if friends come over to act like gypsies in the palace and raid your liquor cabinet. Read PubClub’s full Koloa Kaua’i Coconut rum review here.
It retails for $32.99
Dos Maderas Double Aged Rum
You know you have a quality spirit when you have to uncork the bottle. Dos Maaderas Double Aged rum is born in tropics and finished in Europe. It starts out with sugar cane from Barbados and Guyana and is initially aged in bourbon oak casks. It is then sent to the sherry capitol of Spain where Bodegas Williams & Humbert – one of the world’s most prestigious wine and spirits producers – places it in cherry casks. This duel aging process producds a smooth, very slight burning finish with a flavor that’s a bit difficult to describe. When sipped, it doesn’t quite feel like your drinking rum but almost tastes of wine as the finish.
Dos Maderas means “Two Woods” in Spanish, which is a nod to the innovative multi-cask aging process that’s key to its flavor.
It retails for $34.99
Don Q Oak Barrel Spiced Rum
This, too, has a cork. And it’s no cheap mass-marketed spiced rum, either. You can taste the quality from the first sip. You can smell it too, as it has a strong aroma that prepares your taste buds for what’s about to come next. It’s so good that even people who are not big fans of spiced rums will like it.
Don Q Oak Barrel Spiced is a premium spiced rum with warm, radiant, rich, golden hues and a medium to heavy texture. A blend of three Puerto Rican rums aged at least three years in American white oak barrels it has flavors of vanilla, cinnamon and caramel with a finish of toasted coffee. It’s got a bit of a spicy kick to it that at the end can even (briefly) burn the tongue.
It retails for $41.99
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