Rum
A spirit distilled from sugarcane, either from molasses or from fresh-pressed juice. The styles differ by what happened after distillation: how long in cask, what was added, and at what strength it was bottled.
Image coming soon
Quick Facts
Usage
Used as a base spirit across daiquiris, punches, tiki drinks and highballs. Style choice matters more than brand: a white rum daiquiri and an aged rum daiquiri are different drinks.
Rum is distilled from sugarcane. Most of it starts from molasses, a by-product of sugar refining; some starts from fresh-pressed cane juice, which is what separates rhum agricole and cachaça from the rest. Everything after that is cask, time and additions.
White rum. Little or no cask age, or aged then filtered clear. Clean rather than neutral.
Dark rum. Colour is not a grade. It can come from long ageing or from added caramel, and the label rarely tells you which.
Aged rum. Time in oak, doing what oak does. The style closest to a sipping whisky.
Spiced rum. Rum with spices added after distillation. Quality depends entirely on whether those spices are real.
Overproof rum. Bottled well above 40%. A seasoning spirit more than a base.
Blackstrap rum. Near-black, heavy with molasses character.
Cachaça. Brazilian, from fresh cane juice. Legally its own category, not a rum.
Read further
The complete guide to rum covers production, regions and how to read a label.
Top Tips
- Match the style to the drink. Aged rum in a daiquiri wastes the ageing; white rum in an Old Fashioned wastes the drink.
- Read past the colour. Dark does not mean old.
Common Questions
What is rum made from?
Sugarcane. Most rum is distilled from molasses, a by-product of sugar refining. Some is distilled from fresh-pressed cane juice, which gives rhum agricole and cachaça their grassier character.
Does dark rum mean it is aged?
Not necessarily. Colour can come from time in cask or from added caramel, and labels rarely distinguish. Age statements are more reliable than colour.
Is cachaça a rum?
Legally, no. It is its own category, made in Brazil from fresh cane juice. In practice it behaves like an unaged cane spirit.
Guide by Jerry Can Spirits