There’s no doubt that for home mixologists and drink makers, rum-based tiki cocktails can have a certain sort of imposing stature to them. We drink writers can sometimes forget this, given that most of us have naturally assembled varied collections of spirits and liqueurs, the necessary components to bring such a wide variety of drinks to life. We forget that to the average drinker, mixing up an old fashioned or Manhattan at home can seem like the height of cocktail wizardry–a lot of these folks would look at a classic (and complicated) tiki cocktail recipe like the Zombie and simply resign themselves to the fact that they won’t ever scrape together the necessary rums, juices, syrups, etc.
But at the end of the day, making these types of cocktails at home is a deeply rewarding, delicious skill to nurse, and the only way a collection of this kind gets built is of course gradually: One bottle at a time. You assemble these things over the course of a year or two, and before you know it you can make practically any classic tiki cocktail under the setting Polynesian sun.
And it really all starts with the rum. Putting together a core collection of rum bottles is the obvious place to begin, because rum is the primary base spirit of almost all of the great tiki classics. Sure, there are some drinks in the canon that also are built around spirits such as gin, or even whiskey, but you’re absolutely going to need a variety of rum. The plus side is of course that you can use your rum for anything else you want–basic mixed drinks, cooking, etc. Then as you acquire more ingredients, you can build out your ever-expanding arsenal of tiki cocktail recipes.
I’ve taken some inspiration here from the great bartender/bar owner Martin Cate, author of Smuggler’s Cove, one of the essential tiki cocktail tomes, named after his own influential bar in San Francisco. In his book, and at his bar, Cate effectively breaks up rum into styles based on age brackets, types of distillation, etc. I’ve done something sort of similar here, but focused on keeping this at 10 overall bottles (or types of bottle) that will allow you to make pretty much any cocktail that I would ever make at home.
1. Unaged/Lightly Aged Column Still Rum
I write “unaged or lightly aged” because a lot of the lighter bodied “white” rum on the market actually does have a few years of oak aging on it, which helps to develop flavors, before the color is then removed via carbon filtration. This style of rum, which you can typically find from the Spanish-speaking parts of the Caribbean and Central America, tends to be the lightest thing in your tool box, for when you want a lightly flavored, almost neutral character. Many rums from countries such as Puerto Rico, Cuba, Panama, Nicaragua, Trinidad and the Dominican Republic apply here. To be honest, I don’t make use of these types of column still rums very often, but you will sometimes find cocktail recipes calling for portions of these light rums to balance out portions of heavier rums. This is the style of rum used in classic, traditional preparations of cocktails such as the daiquiri or mojito, though I tend to prefer slightly more flavorful rums, personally.
Bottles to try: Don Q Cristal, Angostura White Oak
2. A “Daquiri Rum”
I very much like to keep a specific bottle or two around that I like using to make a classic daiquiri, which is one of my favorite uses for lighter rum. But rather than using Bacardi or Don Q for my own daiquiri, I like something that brings a bit more prominent flavor to the party, probably because it has some portion of pot still rum in the blend. These “daiquiri rums,” as I think of them, have assertive enough flavors to stand out against the lime and sugar of the cocktail. Some can be on the funky side, like Planteray’s punchy Xaymaca Special Dry Jamaican Rum, while others are more rounded and smooth, like Foursquare Probitas. They all make a particularly excellent daiquiri.
Bottles to try: Ten to One White Rum, Denizen Aged White Rum, Foursquare Probitas, Planteray Xaymaca
3. Aged Column Still Rum
Aged column still rums can be great workhorses in a lot of tiki cocktails, and many of them offer good bang for your buck in terms of the age statements you can get for the price. Like the unaged/lightly aged column still rums, these tend to be lighter in flavor and texture than pot still rums or blends, and a lot of them are lower in proof as well. They almost play a supporting role in a lot of classic tiki cocktails, many of which will call for a small amount of an intensely flavorful rum, and then a larger amount of one of these aged column still rums to fill it out and bring down the level of alcohol a bit.
To call out a specific rum, Bacardi 8 (Reserva Ocho) is just a damn good value that you can typically find for around $30, being generally just one of the best all-around expressions you can get to check this off your list. A distillery like Bacardi doesn’t necessarily get the respect it deserves from tiki geeks because they make so much lightly flavored, uninteresting rum, but Bacardi 8 is a gem, and a valuable tool for bartenders.
Bottles to try: Bacardi 8, Flor de Caña 7, Angostura 7-Year-Old, Ron Abuelo 7 Year
4. Lightly Aged Blended Rum
Another workhorse category, one that you will be using in a whole lot of different drinks. When we say “blended,” we’re talking about blends of pot and column still rum, which tends to make for a bit bolder, fuller flavored products than just column still rum alone. A lot of flagship products from distilleries in Jamaica, Barbados and St. Lucia, among other places, tend to fit this description.
A workhorse bottle in this category would be something like the flagship Appleton Estate Signature, or St. Lucia’s Chairman’s Reserve. Many, many tiki cocktail recipes will call for these types of rum, and they’ll be the base of a lot of your drinks. As is often the case, you can always upgrade a bit as well, with a bottle such as Appleton Estate 8 Year Old Reserve representing a really nice bump in assertiveness of flavor.
Bottles to try: Appleton Estate Signature, Chairman’s Reserve Original
5. Funky Jamaican Rum
Eventually in your rum journey, you’re going to need to graduate beyond the relatively inviting and mellow likes of Appleton Estate and get into the deep end of really funky, intensely flavored Jamaican rums. Many tiki cocktails call for these rums, while many others can be modified with them–often, you’ll use a base of a milder rum, and then add a small amount of one of these rums to give the flavor a little extra punch. These rums are rich in hogo, the term used to describe the powerful, pungent esters that smell like everything from overripe fruit, to meat, to chemical notes. Doesn’t sound super appealing, right? You’ll just have to taste them for yourself to see how beguiling they can be. Once people cultivate a taste for this style of rum, they have a tendency to become big fans.
A particularly popular and easily located brand to target here is Smith & Cross, a potent combination of funky esters and relatively higher proof, which makes it a great cocktail staple to use in small or large quantities, depending on your taste. Smith & Cross is strongly flavored, but still more approachable than some of the really over-the-top funky rums you’ll encounter on your journey.
Bottles to try: Smith & Cross, Worthy Park 109, Two James Doctor Bird (if you dare)
6. Extra-aged Jamaican Rum
I don’t want to devote too much space to Jamaican rum, but the fact is that a whole lot of the classic tiki canon is indeed based around it, so it’s sort of unavoidable. With that said, most recipes don’t specifically call for high age statements, because these bottles are more expensive and traditionally, tiki pioneers were building their recipes around more readily available spirits in order to keep reasonable cocktail prices on their menu.
But there’s still something to be said for the occasional use of higher age statements in certain cocktails such as the classic mai tai, where you will sometimes see bars mention their use of older rum. The classic, widely available option is Appleton Estate 12 Year, which won’t break the bank, and help add more of a dry oak presence to some cocktails. If you have the money to drop, Appleton Estate 15 Year is especially nice as well. It should go without saying that these make for excellent neat drinkers as well.
Bottles to try: Appleton Estate 12 and 15, Denizen Merchant’s Reserve
7. 151 Proof Demerara Rum
You may have some options available to you, in terms of picking up a 151 proof rum–there’s actually a rum distillery in my city that makes a fantastic local one, which is profoundly flavorful and funky–but you’re probably going to want to get one that is a Demerara rum. Which is to say, a rum from Guyana. These have a distinct, woody and caramelized flavor profile that is just unlike any other rum in the world, something that Donn Beach knew when he concocted so many of the original classic tiki cocktails and called for small amounts of 151 proof Demerara rum in them. Because this style of rum is so incredibly strong, it is typically used as a supporting player in a recipe, infusing it with its unique flavor. With that said, there are also a few cocktails that call exclusively for this stuff, like the classic 151 Swizzle. Let’s just say you’ll want to be careful about not overdoing it.
Bottles to try: Lemon Hart 151, Hamilton 151 Demerara Overproof Rum
8. Unaged Rhum Agricole
Sometimes even cocktail geeks can leave rhum agricole out of these conversations of what bottles you need in a starter rum collection, but I could never bring myself to skip past it. Rhum agricole is made from fresh-pressed cane juice rather than molasses like other rums, and it has a totally different flavor profile as a result, favoring more fresh, grassy, earthy or citrusy characteristics. Because it tastes so different from other rums, you may find that its profile is divisive–some people love the way it deviates from the norm, and it quickly becomes their favorite style of rum. Others are perplexed by rhum agricole’s fresh, exotic flavor. Regardless, these types of rum classically come from French-speaking parts of the Caribbean such as Martinique and Guadeloupe, although you will also see “agricole-style” rums from other distillers all around the globe, and even in the U.S.
For first-time drinkers, I would certainly point you toward some of the classic Martinique rhum agricoles, which are most accessible in the U.S. They’re a necessity for making specific cocktails that call for agricole, like the Ti’ Punch and many others.
Bottles to try: Rhum J.M. Blanc, Rhum Clement Agricole Blanc, Trois Rivières Rhum Blanc
9. Aged Rhum Agricole
The same category of fresh cane juice-based rums, except with some barrel aging on them. Personally, I really enjoy aged agricole for neat drinking, especially in the form of extra-aged agricole, as it’s really fascinating to experience the evolution of the brighter, fresher rhum agricole flavors into the darker, sweeter tones derived from their interaction with oak casks. You can swap these in for the unaged agricoles if you want in various cocktails that call for them, just to see how it changes the drink, but there are also classic tiki cocktails that call specifically for aged agricole, such as the Three Dots and a Dash.
Unfortunately, both unaged and aged agricole can be somewhat more difficult to locate or find variety, at least in some U.S. markets, compared to standard molasses-based rums. You may have to simply accept whatever you can find in this category.
Bottles to try: Rhum J.M. V.S.O.P., Rhum Clement V.S.O.P.
10. A “Special Occasion Neat Drinking” Bottle
And finally, if you’re making a lot of classic tiki cocktails around the house, you may very well find that your guests are becoming more interested in rum–perhaps even in drinking rum neat, which they may refer to as “sipping” rums. For that reason, I think it’s always a good idea to have one bottle on hand that you think of as a special occasion bottle specifically for neat drinking–something that you probably wouldn’t ever use in the context of a cocktail, unless you were conducting some kind of experiment.
You’ll have a lot of good options here, and it will simply come down to which flavors you enjoy. You can look for an ultra-aged column still rum, or vintage releases from Barbados, funky cask strength stuff from Jamaica, extra-aged rhum agricole, or something in between. A few of my own (very different) favorite choices are below.
Bottles to try: Chairman’s Reserve 1931, Foursquare vintages, Rhum J.M. XO, Hampden Great House
Jim Vorel is a Paste staff writer and resident beer and liquor geek. You can follow him on Twitter for more drink writing.