Rum cocktails - made with Light White Rum

Due to their diversity, we categorise rums according to their style and we define "Light White Rums" as rums which are column distilled, molasses-based and Cuban/Puerto Rican in style. They are light-bodied, delicate and fragrant. When used to their full potential in cocktails the resulting drinks are equally light and subtle with complex flavours that complement rather than overwhelm the rum.

Our 25 favourite Light White Rum cocktails

Breakfast Club
With: Light white rum, English orange marmalade, runny honey and Lapsang Souchong tea.
We say: Slightly smoky with incredible depth of flavour. A perfectly balanced delight.

Caribeño
With: Light white rum, coconut water, lime juice and sugar syrup.
We say: A Daiquiri that is light on lime and elongated with coconut water. Delicious and very refreshing.

Cuban Liberal
With: Light white rum, sweet vermouth, Picon Amer and Angostura Orange Bitters.
We say: Light white rum mellowed by Italian vermouth and made interesting with bittersweet French Amer Picon liqueur.

Curtain Call
With: Light white rum, lemon juice, sugar syrup, Campari and champagne.
We say: Rum, lemon, Campari and basil combine brilliantly with champagne adding biscuity complexity, crispness and enlivening effervescence. Beautifully balanced and easy to make using everyday bar ingredients – a true Legacy cocktail.

Daiquiri Elixir
With: Light white rum, lime juice, sugar syrup and Green Chartreuse.
We say: Freshly pressed sugar cane syrup and the French elixir Chartreuse add complexity to the classic Daiquiri.

Daiquiri No.1 (Natural/Classic Daiquiri)
With: Light white rum, lime juice, powdered sugar, chilled water (and optional Daiquiri Bitters)
We say: Crisp, light and refreshing. Delicately simple yet with perfectly balanced complexity of flavours.

Daiquiri No.1 Frozen
With: Light white rum, lime juice, sugar syrup and maraschino liqueur.
We say: Blend with too much ice and you will have a tasteless slushy drink that will give you brain-ache if you drink it too fast. However, made correctly and fine strained this is a superbly refreshing drink on a hot day.

Daiquiri No.3
With: Light white rum, lime juice, sugar syrup, pink grapefruit juice and maraschino liqueur.
We say: A Daiquiri No.1 with a tang of grapefruit and hint of maraschino. Essentially a Hemingway Special Daiquiri (Papa Doble Daiquiri) for folk without the great author's constitution or love of the sours.

Damn It Jimmy
With: Sake, light white rum, fino sherry, dry vermouth and sugar syrup.
We say: Delicately flavoured and ever so very slightly sweet. Made with Bacardi Carta Blanca (as it originally was) this delicate cocktail has complex notes of blue cheese with faint salty sherry and herbal dry vermouth complexity.

El Presidente No.1
With: Light white rum, dry vermouth and pomegranate syrup.
We say: This rose pink tinted coloured drink harnesses a delicate balance between light rum and vermouth with a touch of pomegranate fruity sweetness.

El Viajero
With: Light white rum, coconut water, Ximenez sherry, lime juice, sugar syrup and Bob's Chocolate Bitters.
We say: Coconut water and Pedro Ximénez sherry help make this sour on the rich side and we recommend trying after a meal.

Hemingway Breakfast
With: Absinthe, light white rum, lime juice, falernum liqueur, English orange marmalade and Angostura Aromatic Bitters.
We say: Basically a bitter orange and clove daiquiri. We found this recipe really sung when we added a splash of water for some extra dilution and half a bar spoon of sugars. Perhaps our No Peel Orange Marmalade from Wilkin & Sons was a tad on the sour side – or even our limes. Anyway, once balance adjusted this particular "Breakfast" was very tasty.

Hemingway Special Daiquiri (Papa Doble)
With: Light white rum, pink grapefruit juice, maraschino liqueur, lime juice and sugar syrup.
We say: A true Hemingway Special should be served without the addition of sugar. However, Hemingway had a hardened palate and more delicate drinkers may prefer the recipe above.

Hollywood
With: Light white rum, pink grapefruit juice, pomegranate syrup and egg white.
We say: This drink is deliciously different. Rum, grapefruit and pomegranate smoothed with egg white and spice with nutmeg.

Honeysuckle Daiquiri
With: Light white rum, runny honey, lemon juice and orange juice.
We say: Honey, I love it!

King's Jubilee
With: Light white rum, maraschino liqueur and lemon juice.
We say: If there is such a thing as a "Rum Aviation", then this is surely it.

Let's Go Bananas
With: Banana, light white rum, dry vermouth, lime juice, sugar syrup and pastis.
We say: Fresh and enlivening. This bananay cocktail is a delight and makes for a great and most unusual aperitivo. Be sure your bananas are ripe/overripe.

Mary Pickford
With: Light white rum, pineapple juice, pomegranate syrup and maraschino liqueur.
We say: When made correctly, this pale pink cocktail has a perfect balance between the fruit flavours and the spirit of the rum.

Optimist
With: Light white rum, fino sherry, lime juice, sugar syrup and Peychaud's Aromatic Bitters.
We say: Fino sherry and Peychaud's Bitters brilliantly sets this riff on a classic Daiquiri apart. Beautifully balanced and delicately flavoured. If you apply the charcoal rim, perhaps leave a lipstick saving space rather than encircling the rim.

Pilar
With: Light white rum, peach liqueur, lime juice, pineapple sugar syrup, mint leaves and soda.
We say: If you don't have pineapple syrup, or the time to make the pineapple syrup as stipulated in Joseph's recipe, then don't worry – this drink also works well when made with 10ml / 1 /3oz pineapple juice and 10ml / 1/3oz of sugar syrup (2:1).

Salty Bird
With: Light white rum, Campari, pineapple juice, lime juice and sugar syrup.
We say: Salty Bird hardly suggests a sweet fruity drink but perfectly befits this bittersweet rum laced pineapple and Campari sipper.

Santa Marta Daiquiri
With: Light white rum, lime juice, sugar syrup, chilled water and eau de vie.
We say: A float of Kirsch eau-de-vie adds wonderfully fruity aromatics to an otherwise classic Natural Daiquiri.

Santiago Daiquiri
With: Light white rum, lemon juice and pomegranate syrup.
We say: This Daiquiri is particularly delicate in its balance between sweet and sour.

Te Anaka
With: Light white rum, honey water, fino sherry, lemon juice and egg white.
We say: Reminiscent of a Honeysuckle Daiquiri with salty sherry notes. The rum, fino sherry, honey and lemon juice combine brilliantly, smoothed and made frothy with egg white.

Thimisis
With: Light white rum, thyme liqueur, honey water, lime juice and Bob's Lavender Bitters.
We say: It took us a while to find our bottle of Bigallet Thyme liqueur but once we tried this drink we discovered it was worth searching out. This is basically a thyme and lavender daiquiri and it likes plenty of dilution. We found a floral honey worked best.

More Light White Rum cocktails

We have over 500 cocktail recipes based on light white rum and we are adding more all the time. See more light white rum cocktails and sort by rating or by name.