Light Rum is Key to Numerous Classic Drinks
White rum might not strike you as the highest priority, not when there’s gin and bourbon out there, it is key for so many classic drinks. From the daiquiri to the summer-friendly mojito to the simple Cuba Libre, light rum is a true cocktail staple and a delicious choice.
Different Types of Rum
The spirit of light rum brings all the flavors of vanilla, brown jaggery, and fruit notes of cocktails to life. Without affecting how the drink finally looks like. Some types of light rum are unaged, but several brands mature in barrels for some time. Before the spirit is filtered to remove most of the color of the light rum.
There are several brands of rum to choose from, however, some of the best types of rums to try are listed here.
White or Clear Rum
This type of light rum usually has a milder flavor and lighter body than other types of rum. These types of light rum are most often used for creating cocktails. Cocktails that do not require any bold rum flavors.
This light rum is clear, usually milder flavor, and bears a lighter body as well. It is normally sold at 80 proof, or 40% alcohol by volume in the United States. This type of light rum is often aged for one or more years and then filtered to remove pigmentation. Light or white rums are cheaper to make and less expensive to purchase than most rums that are matured.
The most common popular cocktail drinks using light rums include the Cuba Libre (rum, Coke, and lime), the Daiquiri, the Mojito, and the Piña Colada. And several other cocktails are calling for a light or white rum, a gold rum, and dark or spiced rum.
Some of the most popular light rum brands include Bacardi Superior, Matusalem Plantino, Rubi Rey, 10 Cane, Don Q Cristal, Cruzan Estate Light, Oronoco, Mount Gay Silver, Flor de Caña Extra Dry and Diplomatico Rum Blanco.
Gold or Pale Rum
This type of light rum takes on amber or golden hues when it is mellowed in barrels over time. Gold or pale rum usually maintains a more flavorful profile than the white or clear rums. These are normally used for making cocktails where a stronger flavor is desired.
While some coloring agents are added to provide consistency, Gold or pale rums are typically aged over several years. Vanilla, almond, citrus, caramel, or coconut are some of the subtle flavors found in these types of light rums from the barrels used in the aging process.
Medium-bodied pale rums are often quite affordable compared to older aged rums that have been matured for many years. Gold or pale rums are often enjoyed on the rocks or neat apart from additionally being used in cocktails.
These rums are also popular in recipes for baking and making desserts.
Appleton Special, Barcelo Dorado, Brugal Añejo, Bermudez Ron Dorado, Diplomatico Añejo, Doorly’s 5, Don Q Gold, El Dorado 5, Gosling’s Gold, Matusalem Clasico, Maui Gold Rum, Montanya Gold, Mount Gay Eclipse, Pyrat Pistol, Sergeant Classic Gold, 1 Barrel, Abuelo, Cacique Anejo Superior, Cockspur 5 Star, and Sunset Captain Bligh Golden Rum are some of the best examples of Gold or pale rums.
Dark Rum
Dark rum is just a term applied for this type of rum, and which is meaningless as such. Several aged rums are referred to as dark, just to distinguish them from light rums. The dark rum label is often quite often given to a range of rums. These rums are not clear. They range from light golden amber to black, as well as well-aged rums are labeled as dark rums.
Often aged in oak barrels for extended periods, dark types of rum are commonly used in cocktail recipes. Compared to white rums, overproof rums, flavored and spiced rums, dark rums offer a contrast of more flavorful profiles.
Cruzan Estate Dark, Bacardi Select, Cockspur 5, El Dorado 5, Matusalem Classico, Mount Gay Eclipse, Flor de Caña 5 Black Label, Barbancourt 3 Star, Diplomatico Anejo, Angostura Dark 5, Angostura 1919, Appleton V/X, Barcelo Dorado, and Santa Teresa Selecto are good examples of dark rums.
Black Rum
This type of rum is popular in British territories such as Guyana, Bermuda, Jamaica, and the Virgin Islands. They are dark, rich, and heavy-bodied rums referred to as black rums. They typically offer bold tropical essence to libation and recipes. Black rums are popular ingredients most often utilized to balance the flavors of drinks against gold, white, and spiced rums.
Most black rums are made from molasses. These are thick, dark-sweet liquids left over in the manufacturing process of crystallized sugar. Sometimes colored with burnt caramel to achieve consistently dark hues, most black rums retain much of this rich molasses and caramel flavoring.
Black rums are commonly used in candy-making and the baking industries. It is an essential ingredient that imparts a bold sweet spicy flavor to desserts, cakes, candies, and sauces.
Because of the barrels used to mature black rums, these rums are often charred or fired heavily, and impart much of the wood’s strong flavors to the spirit. Traces of remaining molasses are also found in them.
Best examples of black rums include Coruba, Cruzan Black Strap, Gosling’s Black Seal, Skipper Demerara, Woods 100, Maui Dark Rum, and Whaler’s Dark.
Navy Rum
Full-bodied rums associated with the British Royal Navy are called Navy Rum. As far back as 1655, the Royal Navy was famed for its custom of providing a daily ration of rum to sailors. Rum also seemed to improve as it aged in the barrels aboard ships. Moreover, recipes for navy rum included blends of spirit from British territories, including Guyana, Trinidad, Jamaica, and Barbados.
The rums of Guyana even today produce an uncommonly rich and full-bodied spirit in old wooden pot stills as their 200-year legacy. Known as Demerara rum, it is an essential ingredient in many types of navy rums.
Representing the spirit of international adventure, honor, and bravery on the high seas, the final supply of old British Royal Navy Imperial Rum has recently been re-bottled and are available for the most serious rum admirers.
Some of the most popular navy style rums include Wood’s 100, Lamb’s Navy Rum, Pusser’s, Skipper Demerara, and Lemon Hart.
Premium Aged Rum
Due to the time spent in barrels, aged rums generally take on darker and richer colors. Cognac and sherry barrels produce a reddish tint, and charred oak barrels impart dark tones. To achieve a superior flavor profile, several fine rums are aged in oak barrels for years. Eventually, the interaction of spirit and wood has a positive effect on the smoothness, richness, and subtle flavors of the rum.
The finest examples of mature rums from distilleries are often blended to achieve complexity and distinctive flavor profiles for aged rums. The loss of some rum from the barrels through evaporation and the cost of storage normally add to the cost of producing aged rums.
Often labeled as Anejo in Spanish territories, these older, and more mature rums are repeatedly enjoyed neat or on the rocks like a fine cognac or single malt scotch. Several cocktail recipes call for these flavorful and rich types of aged rum.
Best examples of premium aged rums include Angostura 1824, Appleton Extra, Atlantico Private Cask, Barrilito 3 Star, Barceló Imperial, Botran Solera 1893, Bacardi 8 and Reserva Limitada, Barbancourt Reserve Especiale, Chairman’s Reserve, Cockspur 12, Cubaney 15, and Estate Reserve, Don Q Gran Anejo, and Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva. El Dorado 15, Matusalem Gran Reserva, Mount Gay Extra Old, 1703, Flor de Caña 18, Gosling’s Family Reserve, Santa Teresa 1796, Vizcaya VXOP, Trigo Reserva Añeja, Zacapa Centenario XO and Zaya are some of the others.
Vintage Rum
Many rums sold across the world are blended from multiple sources before bottling. Some of these are unique rums bottled from specific vintage years of production. Vintage rums, as they are known, are most often seen from the French islands. The growing and processing season here is short. Private label rum brands, in some cases, purchase a large bulk of rum from a single production year. Subsequently, they age the product and bottle it when maturity is peaking.
Bringing more vintage rums to the market, boutique brands tend to be in limited editions and are valuable to serious rum enthusiasts and collectors alike.
The amount of sugar contained in the raw cane varies each year due to environmental factors including the amount of rainfall. These differences are noted by master distillers. And the maturing process is thereby monitored to achieve the ideal flavor profile for that vintage year.
It is common practice that Vintage rums are labeled with the year they are distilled and the location of their origin.
Some great examples of vintage rum are the 1998 Vintage from Foursquare Rum Distillery in Barbados, and Rhum J.M. 1997 Vintage from Martinique, Plantation Venezuela 1992.
Overproof Rum
Overproof rums are types of rum that contain higher concentrations of alcohol. are often labeled as overproof. Anything above 40% to 50% alcohol by volume is 80 to 100 proof. The modern distillation process is capable of producing spirits that are generally 160 to 190 proof alcohol. Following aging and blending, these rums are then diluted with water to reach standard 80 proof.
However, Sunset Very Strong Rum from St. Vincent is an exception that is not diluted. It is bottled at the full cask strength of 169 proof. Other manufacturers generally produce rums in the 150-proof range.
Good examples of these rum types include Braddah Kimio’s Da Bomb 155, Gosling’s 151, Bacardi 151, Cruzan 151, El Dorado 151 High Strength Rum, and Matusalem 151 Red Flame. Jamaica’s Wray and Nephew White Overproof at 126 proof is another most popular overproof rum. It is one of the most popular rums sold in Jamaica.
Locals in the Caribbean Islands prefer a stronger drink like overproof rum. Overproof rums are also used in cooking recipes or drinks that blend a very strong rum in the recipe. High-proof rums are mixed with tropical juices and sometimes flavored rums and liqueurs to make classic rum punches.
Rhum Agricole
This is a specific category of rum principally made in the French territories of the Caribbean. Agricole-style Rhums made in Haiti from cane juice are also considered Agricole by some rum experts.
Caribbean Martinique is the only geographic region in the world to have an AOC mark in the rum industry, similar to the AOC marks for champagne and cognac. The Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée for Martinique Rhum agricole is a standard of production, labeling, and aging.
Fermented and distilled from pure, fresh cane juice, the Rhum Agricole spirit is about 70 percent alcohol. This is a lesser degree than most molasses-based rums. This spirit allows Rhum to retain more of the original flavor of the full sugarcane juice.
Lighter Rhum agricoles are rested for up to six months before being bottled. Other mature rums are aged in oak barrels for years to take on richer hues and flavors. Rhums are normally labeled Rhum Vieux or old rum after three years of maturing.
Exceptional spirits are bottled as vintages, like the Rhum J.M. 1997 vintage that spent ten years in oak before being bottled. Other types of rum include Darboussier Rhum Vieux 1983, Clément XO and Cuvee Homere, La Favorite Rhum Agricole Vieux, Neisson Rhum Réserve Spéciale, Depaz Blue Cane Amber Rhum, Rhum J.M. Agricole Blanc, and St. James Hors d’Age.
Flavored or Spiced Rum
Offering a wide range of interesting and multifarious variations of spirits, myriad types of flavors and spices are infused into flavored or spiced rums. Decidedly bringing tropical flavors to the palate, flavored and spiced rum offers unique flavors to cocktails, rum cakes, holiday libations, and many others.
These spices are typically derived from the seeds, dried fruit, leaf, bark, or root, of edible plantations. These aromatic and pungent vegetal substances often provide excitement and gusto to the spirit. Several popular spiced concoctions were originally distilled as medicinal cures and treatments known to plague modern society. Most popular ingredients in this category evolved from such curative mixtures.
Seeds of vanilla, roots of ginger, the bark of cinnamon or cassia, allspice, and buds of clove are commonly used as flavoring agents for spiced rums. Extracts of citrus, mint, banana, cherry, coconut, black currant, pineapple, mango, and other tropical plants and trees bring variety and tones to flavored rum.
Popular brands of spiced and flavored rums include Bacardi Limon and Dragonberry, Cruzan Mango and Coconut, Captain Morgan, Don Q Passion, Parrot Bay Coconut Rum, Crisma Rum Cream Sailor Jerry, Pango, Montecristo, Foursquare, Malibu Coconut Rum, Castries Peanut Rum Cream, and Taylor’s Velvet Falernum.
Rum is Different
This comprehensive article on rum offers guidance and advice about the many different styles, categories, and types of rum produced around the world that make rum a unique spirit in the world.
