When I decided to switch things around this year and publish a countdown of the best mixing rums, I was expecting some push back from my regular readers who look forward to my annual review of the very best rums each year. So far however, my mixing rums list has been met with great enthusiasm. I suspect that everyone was ready for a change this year and a list which is new and fresh is much more exciting than a list which was perhaps getting a little stale which essentially the same information upon it each year.
I will admit though that this year’s list was much harder to put together. Rather than spending a few weeks at the end of the year re-tasting my favourites, I spent most of the year sourcing rums and building cocktails. By my count, I built, tasted and rated almost 160 cocktails as I constructed my overall rankings.
I trust the fruits of my labour were worth the effort. Here are the next five spirits in my Rum Howler 2016 Top 50 Mixing Rums Countdown:
#35 Plantation Original Dark 73 % Overproof Rum
“… I decided to mix a more complex cocktail which I created call, the Hart Breaker. This cocktail combines an overproof rum with lime, agave syrup, and a heavy dose of crushed ice. It is really a great recipe, and with the Plantation Overproof, it was extremely tasty. I followed this up (the next day) with a true tiki recipe, the Zombie (see recipe below). The zombie kicked my tonsils hard; but again it was just plain tasty with the Plantation rum …”
#34 Rum Nation Demerara Solera N° 14
“… What we have is exactly what the nose implied, a funky ‘navy’ style rum. If you like rums like Pusser’s Navy Rum, then you will like the Demerara No. 14. (Although this is a little less spicy than Pusser’s.) I did a little mixing and found that the rum really shines in cocktails. The rum has the ability to push its funky navy flavour through the mixed drink, even when mixing with cola …”
#33 Pusser’s Spiced Rum
I mixed putting in equal amounts of spiced rum and cola. I felt this ratio of spiced rum to cola was much more to my liking. Having found a suitable ratio for my rum and cola, I next set out to make a more complicated bar drink. Using a brandy recipe which I favoured, I tweaked the ingredients and came up with a new cocktail I call, Bitter Blood and Spice. This mixed drink quickly became my preferred serving for the Pusser’s Spiced Rum.
#32 Smuggler’s Cove Dark Rum
” … Of course rums such as this are practically destined from birth to be mixed with cola, and my review would be remiss if it did not involve a nice rum and coke. The resulting bar drink is very nice. The Smuggler’s Cove seems to be particularly well suited as a cola mixer. I am pretty sure that the agreeable flavour of Smuggler’s Cove and Cola will ensure the rum will disappear quickly at my next deck party …”
# 31 Blue Chair Bay Coconut Spiced Rum
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Stay tuned for more mixing rum revelations as I will be adding five more rums to this list shortly.
And you can follow the rankings by bookmarking this page:
We have entered into the top 10 of my rankings of the Best Rums of 2015, and an intimidating 23-year-old masterpiece from Rum Nation (their Demerara 23 Year Old) leads us into the top 10. My favourite expression from Appleton Estate (the 12 Year Old) grabs the number 9 spot with a wonderfully complex 9 Year Old Agricole rum from Reimonenq (the only agricole Rhum to make my list) making it to number 8. Diplomatico’s sweet and succulent Reserva Exclusiva is always one of my favourites and one of the World’s most sought after rum’s the Zacapa XO (25 Year Solero) just misses the top 5.
The age statement on the rum is based upon certification in the United Kingdom (I note that the UK customs system is very stringent). Unfortunately there is no record of when the rum was shipped from Guyana to the UK, but my speculation is that it was probably meant to be part of the blend of a ‘navy style’ rum as Port Mourant Rum (from the Double Wooden Still) is one of the key ingredients in those British Navy Rums.
The Rum Nation Caroni 1998 is one such offering from the folks at 
The Rum Howler Blog 