Rum is one of the world's most popular base spirits for drinks, and spiced rum offers a sweetly complex option that may seem more palatable to cautious tipplers who prefer an accessible spirit. Determining the best spiced rum is subjective, but there are a number of spiced rums that have received high critical acclaim, won awards awards, garnered overwhelmingly positive consumer reviews, or a combination of these.
The Best Spiced Rums From Around the World
All rum is distilled from sugar cane, and spiced rum is no different. Spiced rum can be made from any type of rum, often gold or dark rum. It is infused with various botanicals to add aromatic and flavorful spicy notes. You'll find spiced rums infused with spices such as ginger, vanilla, cinnamon, clove, or various tree barks. The rums can range from very dry to moderately sweet, although spiced rums generally tend to be sweeter than their unspiced counterparts. Because so many different rum types can be infused with any number of botanicals, this means you'll find significant variations in flavor and aromatic profiles of spiced rums from around the world. That's good news for people seeking something just a little bit different and a lot special; regardless of what your palate prefers, with so many options, you're sure to find a spiced rum that rings your bell. If you'd like to try a slightly sweet and complex can spirit infused with botanicals, then you can't go wrong with these nine best spiced rums from around the world.
1. Largo Bay Spiced Rum
Largo Bay spiced rum has just about everything you'd want in a spiced rum. It's a great value at about $9 for a 750 mL bottle, and it has lovely gentle spice flavors from nutmeg and cinnamon. Wine Enthusiast rated the rum 92 points and listed it as a "Best Buy" because of the value and quality of the rum. The Caribbean rum is probably best in mixed drinks instead of sipping, but some people also enjoy sipping it neat or on the rocks. Try a splash in your favorite cola or ginger beer for an easy and tasty spiced rum highball.
2. The Baron Samedi Spiced Rum
One of Wine Enthusiast's Top 100 Spirits of 2017, the Baron Samedi spiced rum received a respectable 92 point rating from the publication. It's an American brand that infuses spices into a blend of Caribbean rums. Expect notes of cocoa and cloves in this delightfully spicy rum, which will cost about $22 for a 750 mL bottle. It's a good sipping rum, or add a shot to a cup of hot or iced coffee for a spicy, boozy pick-me-up.
3. Chairman's Reserve Original Spice
Chairman's Reserve original spice is the winner of the World Spirits Award gold medal in 2016, and VinePair listed it as one of "5 bottles that will make you rethink spiced rum." What's so special about it? It's infused with a special Caribbean bark called Bois Bandé, a bark rumored to be an aphrodisiac in the Caribbean. It's a complex and spicy red-colored rum with notes of cinnamon, nutmeg, and bitter orange as well as a sweetness that makes it palate pleasing. Sip it solo, or try it in a hot buttered rum for a sublime experience. Expect to pay around $30 for a 750 mL bottle.
4. Boukman Botanical Rhum
Liquor.com lists Boukman Botanical Rhum as its best overall spiced rum. The Haitian rum is a dry (as opposed to sweet) rum, which differentiates it from many other spiced rums. It also makes it an excellent rum for mixing as you won't have the added sweetness from the rum to contend with to throw off the sweetness balance of your cocktails. With notes of bitter orange peel, allspice, clove, vanilla, and bitter almond, it's a rum that is as good for sipping as it is for mixing. It's the perfect rum to use in a rum old-fashioned with a dash of orange cocktail bitters, an orange wedge, a sugar cube, and a splash of water. You'll pay about $45 for a 750 mL bottle.
5. RedLeg Original Spiced Rum
One of Flaviar's top rated rums is RedLeg Original spiced rum. Tasters on the site rated it 9.2 out of 10 stars, high praise indeed from Flaviar's discerning customers. The rum is distilled in the Caribbean and bottled in the UK, and it is sweetly spicy with notes of vanilla, apples, ginger, and cinnamon. This is a great rum to add to hot apple cider for a spicy sweet kick. You'll pay about around $30 for a 750 mL bottle, and reviewers at Whiskey Exchange rated it 4.5 out of 5 stars.
6. Ableforth Rumbullion Navy Strength
Another customer favorite at Flaviar is the Ableforth Rumbullion Navy Strength spiced rum, rating it 9.1 out of 10 stars. At 57% alcohol by volume (ABV), it's a Caribbean spiced rum with notes of cola, salted caramel, toffee, and cinnamon. Sip it, try it in your favorite cola for an easy highball, or mix some into a glass of cream soda for a sweet, spicy treat. Expect to pay around $55 for a 750 mL bottle.
7. Jonah's Curse Black Spiced Rum
The Beverage Tasting Institute rated Jonah's Curse Black Spiced Rum 92 out of 100 points, and customers at Total Wine & More like it as well, rating it 4.6 out of 5 stars. Likewise, it won a gold medal at the San Francisco Wine & Spirits competition. It's a spiced black rum from the Caribbean with subtle sweetness and notes of cinnamon, caramel, and vanilla as well as a hint of toast from oak aging. The rum is bottled in the US, and it will cost around $20 for a 750 mL bottle. Try it with some ginger beer in a dark and stormy for a brilliant twist on the original cocktail (which calls for Gosling's Black Seal rum). This is also an excellent sipper, so if you like your spirits straight and strong, this is one for you!
8. Siesta Key Spiced Rum
Another of Wine Enthusiast's top rated spiced rums comes from Florida. Siesta Key spiced rum received a 91 point rating from Wine Enthusiast, and customers at Total Wine & More rated it 4.8 out of 5 stars. If you like the molasses notes in brown sugar, then you'll probably love this spiced rum. It's lightly sweet, slightly peppery, and has top notes of allspice and cinnamon. You'll pay about $25 for a 750 mL bottle. Enjoy it with some pineapple juice for a simple highball.
9. The Duppy Share Spice
One of Decanter's top spiced rums is The Duppy Share Spice, a Caribbean rum from Barbados and Jamaica. This fruity rum has top notes of pineapple, and it's flavored with kola nut and other Island spices for a moderately sweet, fruity, smooth-yet-hot rum. With its pineapple notes, it's a great rum for a tropical cocktail containing pineapple juice or in a Mai Tai or planter's punch. Expect to pay around $30 for a 750 mL bottle.
The Spiced Rum Story
Rum is a spirit that is distilled from fermented sugar cane juice or molasses. Because of the climate sugar cane requires to grow, most rums come from tropical regions where cane is abundant. Spiced rum is a category of rum that has grown in popularity since the mid 1980s when Captain Morgan began selling mass-market spiced rum. Since then, a number of rum distillers and bottlers have started infusing all different types of rum with a variety of botanicals and spices. Much like gin, which is also a botanically-infused spirit, spiced rum flavor and aromatics will vary from distiller to distiller depending on their own closely guarded formula. The result is a vast array of flavor and aromatic profiles for rums in this category, which means if you don't like one brand, you'll probably find another you do enjoy. Fortunately, it probably doesn't feel like much of a chore to taste various spiced rums to discover which you like the best.
The World's Best Spiced Rums
Spiced rum lends itself well to cocktails, sipping, or stirring into a single mixer such as cola or ginger beer. And rum distillers and bottlers are stepping outside the box, trying new botanicals to infuse into their own proprietary blends. What that means for you is this: there's a world of opportunity for rum lovers who like their drinks on the spicy side, and there's a ton of great flavor and aromatic profiles for professional mixologists and cocktail enthusiasts to develop new, exciting spiced rum drinks.
