Despite its eternal status as the “next big thing” in drinks, rum sales still lag behind multiple other spirits in the U.S., including whiskey, vodka, tequila, and Cognac. Still, there are signs that perceptions of rum are definitively shifting.
Of the almost $2.5 billion U.S. drinkers spent on rum in 2021 — the most recent data available — $229 million went toward “super premium” bottles, the most expensive price segment. Though still a fraction of total sales, this figure is more than 10 times greater than the amount spent on top- shelf rum 15 years ago, proving that folks aren’t only reaching for rum to mix Mojitos and Piña Coladas.
Impressive though that growth is, numbers and spreadsheets do little to capture the depth of the category. With rum brands operating in multiple continents, using two starkly different base ingredients — molasses and fresh cane juice — the main consideration when buying rum is not how much to spend but how you’re looking to enjoy the spirit. The category’s vast range of styles and ever-improving quality ensures that, whether it’s cocktail hour or time for a nightcap, there’s a bottle for every occasion and price point.
This list captures every aspect of that impressive landscape, from single-varietal agricole to transcontinentally aged and blended bottlings. Here are 30 of the best rums to buy right now.
Table Of Contents
Best Rums Under $25
Plantation 3 Stars
Owned by the Cognac house Maison Ferrand, Plantation offers a range of rums that span multi-national blends and single-island, vintage offerings. This particular bottling combines distillates from Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad. While sweet and approachable on the nose, the palate counters with rich character and complexity. We love it in a Daiquiri.
Average price: $19
Rating: 93
Amrut Old Port Rum
Amrut Old Port is made from a molasses base, with all the sugar cane sourced from its native India. Rich and sweet on the nose, this bottle is a great value, delivering subtle notes of dried and ripe tropical fruits on the palate. Make this your go-to bar cart aged rum.
Average price: $24
Rating: 91
Best Rums Under $50
Don Q Reserva 7
The pride of Puerto Rico, Don Q’s 7-year-old release brims with baking spices and rich molasses character. While not the most complex offering, this bottle delivers more than enough personality for its price point and serves up sterling cocktails.
Average price: $28
Rating: 90
Bacardí Reserva Ocho
If you’re opting for a bottle from one of the world’s most recognizable rum brands, look no further than this affordable 8-year-old offering. While delicate tropical fruit defines the nose, rich helpings of vanilla, Demerara, and black pepper coat the palate with each sip. Reach for this instead of bourbon for your next Old Fashioned.
Average price: $31
Rating: 91
Probitas White Blended Rum
A collaboration between two of the most revered distilleries in the Caribbean — Barbados’s Foursquare and Jamaica’s Hampden Estate — this blended white rum recreates the style of spirit Hemingway would have enjoyed in his Daiquiris. Jamaican funk meets fruity sweetness on nose and palate, with exceptional balance throughout.
Average price: $32
Rating: 94
Denizen Rum Vatted Dark Rum
Dark rum from Guyana makes up the majority of this blend from Netherlands-based Denizen, providing a decadent baseline. A smaller proportion (20 percent) of unaged rhum agricole from Martinique brings fruity gusto, and pairs the rum magnificently with sweet vermouth when mixed in a rum Manhattan. Haven’t tried one of those before? You can thank us later.
Average price: $33
Rating: 92
Distillerie Patrick St. Surin Rum Clairin
If sipping unaged spirits is on your summer agenda (or any time of the year, really), set aside some time for this fine Clairin. Traditional to Haiti, and produced using truly artisanal techniques, this expression serves up minerally, grassy savoriness, and springs to life on the palate.
Average price: $40
Rating: 93
Rhum J.M. Terroir Volcanique
From the first recorded distillery to make rhum agricole in Martinique, this aged expression rests in double-charred oak barrels, which amp up its brûléed fruit character. While the aromas are slightly reserved, the palate is vibrant and expressive, delivering equal bursts of sweet and savory notes. Skip the cocktails and sip this rum.
Average price: $43
Rating: 93
Mount Gay Black Barrel Rum
Finished in heavily charred bourbon barrels, this Barbados rum will appeal to American whiskey drinkers, especially with its decadent caramel, vanilla, and toasty aromas. The palate remains surprisingly lively, fruity, and expressive, with deep toast once again appearing on the finish. Rum Old Fashioned, anyone?
Average price: $45
Rating: 92
Noël Barrel Aged Rum Tequila Cask Finished
A blend of North and Central American molasses-based rums, Noël offers green, earthy aromas that are distinctive for the style and likely come from a finishing period in tequila casks. Bottled at 6 years old, it pours a pale gold hue, which is reflected in the freshness of the palate. This rum is great for cocktails or summer sipping.
Average price: $47
Rating: 92
Angostura 1919
While most famous for its iconic cocktail bitters, Trinidad’s House of Angostura offers a range of enjoyable, competitively priced rums. This release marries five rums aged between 5 and 14 years, with a final flavor profile that spans intense, toasted oak to vanilla and tropical fruit sweetness.
Average price: $48
Rating: 92
Ten To One Caribbean Dark Rum
If your bar cart already boasts a bottle of Ten to One White Rum, firstly, good on you — we’ve long been fans — and secondly, it’s time to add the brand’s aged iteration to your collection. A precise and well-balanced blend of Barbados, Dominican, Jamaican, and Trinidadian rum, this release serves passion fruit, licorice, and fiery heat, all woven around a sweet caramel core.
Average price: $49
Rating: 93
Best Rums Under $100
Clairin Sajous
From northern Haiti, this rum is a spirits geek’s dream. Produced using the cane juice of the heritage Canne Cristalline variety, fermentation occurs spontaneously and is fueled only by wild yeasts. This spirit is notably expressive, with each encounter brimming with grassy, vegetal notes, vibrant stone fruits, and an undeniably alluring scent of gasoline. If you enjoy complex, small-production mezcals, you’ll love this bottle.
Average price: $54
Rating: 95
R.L. Seale’s 12 Year Aged Barbados Rum
For a textbook expression of aged Barbados rum, turn to R.L. Seale’s 12 Year. Produced at the Foursquare distillery, from its quirky seal-shaped bottle flows a 46 percent ABV distillate that sings with molasses and baking spice notes, and culminates with a warm, toasty finish.
Average price: $55
Rating: 94
Tso’Ok Rum
From the Sierra Norte mountains of Oaxaca comes this expressive, complex cane-juice-based distillate. Its profile is assertive and the rum immediately makes its presence known with intense corn and savory vegetal aromas. The palate is crisp and dry, with lots of depth. If you thought Oaxaca was only home to stunning mezcal, think again.
Average price: $58
Rating: 93
Kirk and Sweeney Dominican Rum Gran Reserva Superior
This Dominican Republic offering will satisfy any cravings for textbook aged, molasses-based sipping rum. Rich caramel and oak sweetness draw you in on the nose, while baking spices, vanilla, and intense licorice delight on the palate.
Average price: $59
Rating: 92
Baies des Trésors Rhum Agricole Martinique ‘Fruits of the Rains’
Baies des Trésors produces single-plot rums that aim to highlight the distinctive terroirs of different parts of Martinique. This expression, which showcases cane grown on rainy slopes, is fruity, rich, and expressive, with just a subtle hint of funk. French oak aging provides a kiss of sweet vanilla on the palate.
Average price: $65
Rating: 94
Papalin 7 Year Old
This blend of two Jamaican pot still rums combines spirits distilled and aged at Worthy Park and Hampden Estate respectively. Classic Jamaican funk blends with underripe stone fruit and grassy vegetation on the nose. The palate takes a savory, umami turn, with a Band-Aid note appearing on the finish that almost recalls peated Scotch. This is a complex rum that provides a thought- provoking sipping experience.
Average price: $66
Rating: 94
Black Tot Aged Caribbean Rum
A blend of Barbados, Guyana, and Jamaican rums, this bottling is exceptionally balanced and remarkably nuanced. Funky, earthy notes open the nose and set up a savory, spicy, peppery palate. While ideal for sipping, don’t shy away from mixing in cocktails — its character shines through and you won’t be disappointed.
Average price: $66
Rating: 94
Hampden Estate 8 Year Old
High-ester, savory funk immediately springs to life as this Jamaican rum hits the glass. Banana skins meet citrus peel and baking spices on the nose, while tannic grip, coffee, and a complex character that almost evokes smoke sets up an alluring palate. Intensity, evolution, and depth — this 8-year-old rum has it all.
Average price: $69
Rating: 94
Saison Rum Triple Cask 5 Years Barbados
This Barbados rum spends the first three years of its life aging in its homeland then a further two years maturing in France. Classic baking spice, vanilla, and licorice notes form its core, while lively tropical fruit provides extra layers to appreciate. The palate is powerful and persisting, especially given the spirit’s relatively modest age.
Average price: $69
Rating: 93
Alambique Serrano Single Blend #1
Another stunning Oaxacan cane rum, this blend combines Cognac-cask-aged column still distillate with French-oak-aged pot still rum. The duo comes together in perfect harmony, serving up a captivating mix of fruit and umami notes on the nose. The palate then takes a pretty abrupt, but no-less enjoyable, turn, heading in a green, vegetal, earthy direction. This bottle provides further proof that Oaxaca is a serious player in the rum landscape.
Average price: $72
Rating: 93
Goslings Family Reserve Old Rum
Beyond the distractions of trademarked cocktails and erstwhile apostrophes, Goslings delivers some fine rums, including this aged (16–19 years) expression. Pouring a decadent shade of midnight molasses, the spirit arrives with surprising vigor on nose and palate. Its profile mimics a sherry- and sweet-vermouth-soaked fruit cake, with each sip revealing something exciting and new about its lengthy journey from cane to Glencairn.
Average price: $78
Rating: 92
Rivers Royal Grenadian Rum
Bottled at 69 percent ABV, this cane juice based rum is actually the “light,” export version of the spirit, which is typically consumed on its home soil at 75 percent. Will you therefore encounter boozy heat in each pour? Absolutely. Yet the scent and taste of ethanol are nowhere to be found among its dizzying array of descriptors. Expect corn husk, dried grass, earth, and umami — and that’s only the beginning of this supercharged rum. It won’t appeal to everyone but those who will enjoy this rum will absolutely love it.
Average price: $83
Rating: 94
Rolling Fork Spirits Toasted Bourbon Cask Barbados 9 Year Rum
Single-barrel, cask-strength, and bottled in Indiana — no, this is not a bourbon, but it will certainly appeal to fans of America’s native spirit. The juice comes from the Foursquare distillery in Barbados, where it spends eight years aging in ex-bourbon casks before a final one-year finishing period in the U.S. The bourbon influence shines equally as bright on nose and palate, with heady vanilla and caramel notes offset by coconut and rich red fruit. This is a stunner.
Average price: $85
Rating: 94
Best Rums Over $100
Ron Zacapa XO
You don’t have to spend much time with this rum before gaining the impression Ron Zacapa is seeking to lure Cognac drinkers. The bottle certainly wouldn’t look out of place in that particular section of the liquor store, while the blend of 10- to 25-year-old rums within it found a final resting place in French oak former Cognac casks. None of this is a slight, it should be noted, and the spirit’s profile will definitely please those who enjoy aged French brandies.
Average price: $117
Rating: 92
Rhum Clément Cuvée Homère
A blend of 7 to15-year-old bourbon-barrel-aged cane rum, this luxury bottling is a truly refined spirit. Raisins meet tropical fruit on the nose, where the oak influence is also prominent. The palate is much drier and more savory than the nose leads you to expect, offering a welcome alternative to the often cloying aged sipping rums.
Average price: $120
Rating: 94
Rhumb Runner Fernandes Trinidad 18 Year Old Rum
With only 237 bottles released worldwide, this unicorn release requires some hunting, but the fruits of that labor will more than make up for it. From cask to bottle, nothing is added and nothing is taken away, though that shouldn’t put you off proofing with a few drops of water to unlock its seemingly endless potential. Banana, passion fruit, guava, and mango make up the majority of its fruity core, while subtle spices, pepper, and licorice provide pleasant seasoning.
Average price: $140
Rating: 96
Dos Maderas Luxus
Combining 10-year-old rums from Barbados and Guyana, Dos Maderas Luxus then spends five years in Pedro Ximénez casks in Jerez, Spain. That final resting period amps up the spirit’s dried fruit and nut profile, while rich dark caramel lingers underneath. Don’t be fooled by its 40 percent ABV, this rum suffers no lack of concentration or character. And with a sweet, decadent finish, it’s an ideal digestif.
Average price: $160
Rating: 93
Rest & Be Thankful Monymusk 1998 23 Year Old
Another incredibly limited release (just 175 bottles!), this high-octane Jamaican rum opens with powerful hogo aromas. After they blow off, fresh and dried tropical fruits emerge, mixed with a whiff of green grass. Each sip then delivers raisined molasses notes, and crisp, tannic texture. The price tag is a bit of a stretch but this is a special gem worth seeking out.
Average price: $348
Rating: 95
FAQ
What is the smoothest rum?
Some brands of rum are better suited for sipping and enjoying neat or on the rocks. These tend to be smoother expressions of the spirit. Examples and particular expressions from this list include Denizen Rum Vatted Dark Rum, Black Tot Aged Caribbean Rum, and Rhum Clément Cuvée Homère.
Is rum stronger than vodka?
Most vodkas clock in around 40 percent ABV while many of the types of rum brands that appear on this list come in higher — Rivers Royal Grenadian Rum, for example, arrives at nearly 70 percent ABV.
Which rum is best with Coke?
Depending on your taste preferences — Do you like spiced rum? Dark rum? White rum? — most rums will pair well with Coke. Among all the rum names out there, look for mass-market expressions priced for cocktails (think $40 and under) that won’t get lost in the flavor of the Coca-Cola. Plantation 3 Stars is a good place to start.
VinePair’s Tasting Methodology
Throughout the year, VinePair conducts numerous tastings for our popular Buy This Booze column, and wine and spirits reviews. Our mission is to provide a clear, reliable source of information for drinkers, providing an overview applicable to day-to-day buying and drinking.
Tastings are not typically conducted blind. In alignment with our reviews mission, we believe in purposefully tasting all products as our readers typically would, with full knowledge of the producer, the region, and — importantly — the price.
For Buy This Booze roundups, we typically include a maximum of one expression per brand, though we do allow multiple products from the same production facility (i.e., released under different labels).
For this rum roundup, we considered a number of factors before finalizing the list. Our overall aim was to provide a complete overview of the myriad styles and origins of rum that define the category. That means entry-level, “approachable” bottles feature alongside limited-edition releases that spirits geeks go to great lengths to seek out. We are confident that every single bottle that made this final ranking delivers appropriate levels of flavor, balance, depth, and complexity for each of their respective price points.
