There is no single best rum to buy in Australia, because rum is not one drink. A heavy Guyanese rum from wooden stills, a Caribbean rum finished in old sherry casks in Jerez and a young Australian pot still rum share little beyond the sugar cane they started from. So this guide picks by style: the bottle we would reach for first in each corner of our rum range, and who it suits.
Quick picks
- El Dorado 12 Year Old at 40 per cent: Guyanese dark rum from Demerara Distillers, for sipping or a rum Old Fashioned.
- Pusser's Blue Label at 40 per cent: navy rum at everyday strength, for anyone who mostly mixes.
- Dos Maderas 5+5 at 40 per cent: Caribbean rum finished in Jerez sherry casks, for a whisky or sherry drinker trying rum.
How we chose: style, not score
There are no scores here and no award claims. Each bottle is on the list because it shows its style clearly. Where we quote an age, a cask or a still, it comes from the producer's own website or bottle label.
The list mixes well known rum brands with smaller producers, and everyday bottles with premium rum meant for slow sipping. The first question is what you want the rum to do. A sipping rum is poured neat or over one large cube, so oak, age and the character of the still are the point. A mixing rum has to hold its own against lime, sugar and ginger beer, and twenty years of cask character disappears under cola. Several bottles below do both jobs, and we say which.
If the words on rum labels are confusing in the first place, our guide to the types of rum takes them apart one system at a time.
What an age on a rum label means
In Australia, rum sits on the same legal footing as whisky and brandy. Under the Customs Act, imported rum cannot be delivered from customs control unless a Collector is satisfied it has been matured by storage in wood for at least two years. The Excise Act sets the same two-year rule for rum made here before it can leave excise control. That floor applies to every rum on this list, including the clear El Dorado 3 Year Old.
Above the floor, the number on the label is the producer's, and producers word it differently. Two examples from this list:
- A minimum. El Dorado describes its 3 Year Old as "laid down in oak barrels for at least three years".
- An average. Williams & Humbert gives Dos Maderas 5+5 a "minimum average of 10 years".
They are not the same claim. Read the words around the number, not just the number.
Best rum for sipping neat
Guyana, full weight. El Dorado 15 Year Old is the one to pour for someone who already likes dark rum. Demerara Distillers blends it from four of its stills: the EHP Wooden Coffey, the Metal Coffey, the Port Mourant Double Wooden Pot Still and the Versailles Single Wooden Pot Still. The producer credits Port Mourant with its "earthy, peat-like finish" and describes a nose of dark coffee, candied orange, almonds, dark chocolate, pepper and vanilla.
Barbados. Doorly's XO is the Barbados counterpoint to all that Guyanese weight. The whole Doorly's line is in Doorly's Rum.
Barbados, ten years. R.L. Seale's 10 Year Old is a ten year old Barbados rum and a straightforward sipper.
Barbados, at full power. Foursquare Mandamus at 57 per cent is the bottle for someone who has worked through the others. The label identifies it as Exceptional Cask Selection Mark XXIX, a pot and column blend given 16 years of cask ageing in ex-bourbon and ex-port casks, distilled and matured at Foursquare Rum Distillery. At that strength, pour a small measure and add water a few drops at a time. The rest of the range is in Foursquare Rum and Barbados Rum.
Best navy rum
Pusser's Blue Label is the everyday bottle. Pusser's lists it at 40 per cent outside the United States and describes Demerara sugar, molasses, dried fruits, island spices and caramel on the nose, with a full, round body that suits cocktails.
Pusser's Gunpowder Proof at 54.5 per cent is the historic strength. Pusser's says it is produced at original Admiralty strength and to the Admiralty's blending recipe last used when the Royal Navy discontinued its daily ration on 31 July 1970. Use it where the rum has to cut through citrus and sugar. Our navy rum guide explains the tot and where 54.5 comes from, and the full line is in Pusser's Rum.
Best Demerara rum
El Dorado 12 Year Old at 40 per cent is the bottle to learn the Guyanese style on. The producer attributes its "rich fruity bouquet" largely to the EHP Wooden Coffey and Metal Coffey stills, and describes tropical fruit and spice with hints of honey and dark sugar, full body and a dry finish. It works neat, and Demerara Distillers' own serving suggestion is a rum Old Fashioned: 50 ml of the 12 Year Old stirred with a bitters-soaked brown sugar cube and half a slice of orange.
Our Demerara rum guide explains the wooden stills, and the range sits in El Dorado Rum and Guyana Rum.
Best Jamaican rum to start with
Blackwell Fine Jamaican Rum at 40 per cent is the gentle way in. Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records, launched it in 2008 from his family's recipe. The producer says the rum is aged for two years, that master blender Joy Spence is in charge of its taste, and that it opens soft and sweet with vanilla and caramel before toasted marshmallow and a spice finish. Sip it over ice or use it in a rum and cola.
Best rum from elsewhere
St Lucia. Admiral Rodney Royal Oak at 40 per cent belongs to the range St Lucia Distillers describes as made from 100 per cent continuous still rums, and as its flagship in terms of age and complexity. The range is in Admiral Rodney.
Barbados and Guyana, by way of Jerez. Dos Maderas 5+5 at 40 per cent is rum distilled in Barbados and Guyana, aged in the Caribbean, then finished in Jerez by Williams & Humbert, a sherry and brandy house. The producer describes five years in ex-bourbon barrels in the Caribbean, three years in Jerez in casks that previously held Dos Cortados, and a final stage in casks that held Don Guido, a Pedro Ximénez of more than 20 years. Expect fig, dried grape and ripe fruit.
Mauritius. Arcane Extraroma at 40 per cent is a pure cane rum from Mauritius, which its label calls "a smooth and aromatic pure cane rum". Starting from cane rather than molasses puts it closer in raw material to French Caribbean agricole, which our Martinique cane juice rum guide covers separately.
Best Australian rum: our pick
Karu Outcask Wild Rum at 46 per cent is our pick from home. Karu Distillery, which describes its setting as the foothills of the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, ferments NSW molasses for two weeks, distils it entirely in its 600 litre copper pot still and ages it for at least two and a half years in barrels that previously held Australian whisky. It is a good answer to anyone who assumes rum has to come from the Caribbean.
Best white rum for mixing
El Dorado 3 Year Old at 40 per cent is aged rum that looks like white rum. Demerara Distillers lays it down in oak for at least three years, then double filters it through charcoal to remove the colour. The producer's daiquiri is 50 ml of the 3 Year Old, 25 ml lime juice and 10 ml sugar syrup, shaken with ice and strained into a chilled coupe. More options are in White Rum.
If you want sweet and spiced
Spiced and flavoured rum is a different buying decision, and the producer matters more than the label. Our spiced and flavoured rum guide covers the bottles worth buying, and the range is in Spiced Rum.
Buying for someone else? Our spirits gift guide matches bottles to the person.
Where to start
- First good dark rum: El Dorado 12 Year Old.
- Something to sip slowly: El Dorado 15 Year Old or Doorly's XO.
- Coming across from whisky: Admiral Rodney Royal Oak or Dos Maderas 5+5.
- For the experienced rum drinker: Foursquare Mandamus.
- Mostly for mixing: Pusser's Blue Label, or Gunpowder Proof for cocktails that need more strength.
- Daiquiris: El Dorado 3 Year Old.
- Jamaican, gently: Blackwell Fine Jamaican Rum.
- Australian: Karu Outcask Wild Rum.
- Something different: Arcane Extraroma or R.L. Seale's 10 Year Old.
The full range sits on our Rums page, and we deliver to every Australian state and the ACT.