20 best Rum cocktails

Rum is the most exciting and diverse spirits category, offering clear, clean, light, delicate rums through to dark, full-bodied, pungent estery rums and everything in between. Consequently, rum-based cocktails are equally varied in style, encompassing some of the very best drinks to ever pass across a bar counter.

The selection of the best-known and enduring rum cocktails encompass eight different styles of rum:

• Light white rum (charcoal-filtered 1-4 years old)
• Light gold rum (1-3 year old molasses column)
• Caribbean blended rum aged 6-10 years
• Dark/black/blackstrap rum
• Unaged/blanc rhum Agricole
• White overproof rum
• Navy rum (54.5% alc./vol.)
• Jamaican-style overproof aged pot still rum

Air Mail
With: Light gold rum (1-3 year old molasses column), lime juice, honey and brut champagne/sparkling wine.
We say: Described by some as being a rum-based French 75.

Canchànchara
With: Light gold rum (1-3 year old molasses column), lime juice, and honey.
We say: Achieve the perfect balance between sweet honey and sour lime and this is a truly great cocktail.

Cuba Libre
With: Lime, light gold rum (1-3 year old molasses column), aromatic bitters, and cola.
We say: Basically, a rum and coke with a squeeze of lime, but Cuba Libre has much more of a ring about it.

Daiquiri
With: Light white rum (charcoal-filtered 1-4 years old), lime juice, sugar syrup, and Daiquiri Bitters.
We say: Surely the ultimate rum cocktail.

Dark 'n' Stormy
With: Dark/black/blackstrap rum, lime juice, sugar syrup, aromatic bitters and ginger beer.
We say: A Daiquiri made with pungent dark rum, topped and made refreshing with spicy ginger beer.

El Presidente
With: Light gold rum (1-3 year old molasses column), dry vermouth, orange curaçao liqueur, grenadine syrup, and saline solution.
We say: Rum and vermouth combine harmoniously in this delicate and subtly citrus-fresh cocktail.

Fog Cutter
With: Light white rum (charcoal-filtered 1-4 years old), dry gin, cognac/brandy, pisco, orange juice, orgeat syrup, lemon juice, and oloroso sherry.
We say: Don't be fooled by this seemingly innocuous orange-yellow long, fruity cocktail.

Hemingway Special (Papa Doble)
With: Light gold rum (1-3 year old molasses column), pink grapefruit juice, maraschino liqueur, lime juice and sugar syrup.
We say:

Mai Tai
With: Caribbean blended rum aged 6-10 years, orange curaçao liqueur, lime juice, orgeat syrup, and sugar syrup.
We say:

Maple Rum Old Fashioned
With: Caribbean blended rum aged 6-10 years, maple syrup, and aromatic bitters.
We say: Created at La Floridita in Havana for Ernest Hemingway, after the great man wandered into the bar to use the toilet.

Mojito
With: Mint leaves, Light gold rum (1-3 year old molasses column), lime juice, sugar syrup and soda water.
We say: This Cuban cousin of the Mint Julep is one of the world's greatest and most refreshing cocktails.

Navy Grog
With: Light white rum (charcoal-filtered 1-4 years old), Caribbean blended rum aged 6-10 years, Navy rum (54.5% alc./vol.), pimento dram, brown sugar syrup, honey, pinek grapefruit juice, lime juice, and Xamthan gum.
We say: With is trio of rums, this maritime sour is one of the punchiest Tiki cocktails.

Old Cuban
With: Mint leaves, Caribbean blended rum aged 6-10 years, lime juice, sugar syrup, aromatic bitters and brut champagne/sparkling wine.
We say: A luxurious, minty Daiquiri topped with a splash of fizz.

Piña Colada
With: Light white rum (charcoal-filtered 1-4 years old), cachaça, pineapple juice, cream of coconut, lime juice, cream, and saline solution.
We say: A splash of cachaça adds some Latin funk and a splash of fresh cream makes this Piña Colada creamy white.

Queen's Park Hotel Super Cocktail
With: Light gold rum (1-3 year old molasses column), rosso/sweet vermouth, lime juice, grenadine syrup, sugar syrup and aromatic bitters.
We say: Perhaps best described as a Trinidadian Daiquiri due to its heavy use of aromatic bitters.

Royal Bermuda Yacht Club
With: Light gold rum (1-3 year old molasses column), falernum, orange curaçao, lime juice, and sugar syrup.
We say: A full-flavoured, tangy Daiquiri with faint clove spice.

Rum Punch
With: White overproof rum, lime juice, sugar syrup, and aromatic bitters.
We say: The original rum cocktail, with "one of sour, two of sweet, three of strong and four of weak".

The Jungle Bird
With: Dark/black/blackstrap rum, red bitter liqueur, pineapple juice, lime juice, and sugar syrup.
We say: Bittersweet and fruity with pungent rum notes, sipped through crushed ice.

Ti' Punch
With: Unaged/blanc rhum Agricole, cane juice syrup, and lime.
We say: As the name suggests, Martinique's national cocktail is deliciously punchy.

Zombie
With: Caribbean blended rum aged 6-10 years, Light white rum (charcoal-filtered 1-4 years old),
Jamaican-style overproof aged pot still rum, falernum, pineapple juice, lime juice, pink grapefruit juice, grenadine syrup, absinthe, and saline solution.
We say: Powerful funky rum and delicate cinnamon spice partially tamed by rich fruit and sweetened clove.