2024 was another embarrassingly great year for rum, perhaps further evidence that we should all be paying closer attention to the category when it comes to ultra-premium spirits. Alas, rum’s ascendance, while forecast for at least a decade, continues to be “coming soon,” with the tropical spirit still not getting the respect it deserves. You needn’t sit on the sidelines however. Any one of our top 10 rums of the last 12 months are worth seeking out and savoring.
As always, you can find more great options on our previous top 10 rums of 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, and 2019. You can also search multiple stores at wine-searcher to find the best prices on all these products and more.
1. Appleton Estate Rum Hearts Collection 1998 (Jamaica) – Appleton’s Hearts Collection, now spanning 8 releases, keeps getting better and better, to the point where we face the collection as an embarrassment of riches. This 1998 release is 25 years old and showcases the very best that Jamaica has to offer, a slick load of estery fruit, coffee, and rolling molasses, with a slug of molasses on the finish. Fruit’s in there, but it’s well-hidden, encouraging the addition of water one drop at a time to coax it out. 126 proof. $550 [BUY IT NOW FROM RESERVEBAR]
2. Hampden “Great House” Rum Distillery Edition 2024 (Jamaica) – This rum (now in its sixth edition) is consistently great every year, and this is the second time it’s made an appearance on our Top 10 Rums of the Year list. Aggressive fruit notes evoke notes of torched pineapple, papaya, and guava, paired with lit matchsticks and a bubblegum finish. All kinds of nuance awaits provided you have patience and just a little bit of water. 114 proof. $120 [BUY IT NOW FROM FROOTBAT]
3. Holmes Cay Infinity Cask (Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad, Guadeloupe, Barbados, Venezuela, and Brazil) – Like all good infinity casks, Holmes Cay’s one-off expression is a mélange of rum. It hails from 13 different distilleries, 7 countries, and comes from barrels produced as long ago as 1976. Describing its flavors is a much tougher task than laying out the back story, but should you find yourself in possession of a glass, watch for beautifully integrated butterscotch, apple cider, ginger, and lingering coconut notes. Bring your Visa card. 116 proof. $1800
4. Transcontinental Rum Line Panama 2015 (Panama) – This column-distilled rum is just six years old, but it pours on gorgeous tropical fruit flavors, slick baking spices, and a finish that oozes vanilla. It’s on the sweet side but so refreshing that I found it difficult to put down. The price is perfect for cocktailing, making this an easy go-to for mai tais. 86 proof. $60 [BUY IT NOW FROM FROOTBAT]
5. Lost Spirits Japonisme Rum (U.S.) – This is a wild and wholly unexpected rum from the mad scientists at Lost Spirits, which rapidly age products, especially rum, with a patented technology. Japonisme is made using Kokuto black sugar from Okinawa, which gives the rum made from it an extremely dark color – almost black. The rum’s flavor is equally dark, an immersive combination of barrel char, raisins, dark chocolate, and roasted nuts. Wild, wild stuff worth seeking out. 99 proof. $99
6. Roaming Road Spirits Belize Rum 17 Years Old (Belize) – A new independent bottler on the scene, Roaming Road came out of the gate strong in 2024 with a collection of rums as old as 20 years in age. This column-still rum is easily the best of the lot, a fruity and spicy experience that pours on notes of blackberry, baking spice, and gingerbread. The collection of flavors evoke a high-grade brandy in the best possible way. 124.4 proof. $160
7. Mount Gay Single Estate Series 24_02 (Barbados) – The second release in Mount Gay’s Single Estate Series, this rum is unique in that it is entirely made on Mount Gay’s land, from growing the sugar cane to fermenting the juice to distillation to aging. The attention to detail shows – Mount Gay even let us taste the raw sugar and molasses it made – with a brightly fruity, chocolate-laced rum that finds room for bites of green banana and toasted almonds. A delight. 110 proof. $400
8. Single Cask Nation Uitvlugt Rum 24 Years Old (Guyana) – Another indie bottling (originally dropping in 2023 but slow to make its way to us), made in Guyana on one of the oldest pot stills in the world and one of only two wooden stills in existence. Sugary and a little industrial, this is the funky, fruity rum experience your mother warned you about. All manner of candy finds a home amid tastes of coffee ice cream and cream soda, with tons of clove on the finish. 100.2 proof. $210
9. Ten To One Five Origin Select Rum (Trinidad, Barbados, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Guyana) – This rare blend may sound like a one-off, but it’s actually a permanent addition to the Ten To One lineup, and an affordable one at that – despite the addition of 11-to-15-year-old rum produced on the Port Mourant wooden pot still that we just mentioned in the #8 writeup. Straightforward with sweetness and overripe banana up front, it settles into a toastier, wood-heavy note as it develops on the tongue. Plenty of spice on the finish, making for a versatile, rounded, and reasonably affordable offering. 92 proof. $50
10. Brugal Rum Coleccion Visionaria Edicion 02, Coffee (2024) (Dominican Republic) – Round two of Brugal’s Coleccion Visionaria is another unique, top-shelf experience – an experimental expression that flavors the rum without flavoring the rum, in this case by using coffee beans to toast the casks used to age the spirit. It’s a crazy idea that works really well, adding a mild, almost subdued character to an already standout rum, which otherwise connotes a heavy barrel char character followed by ample berry-focused fruit. I don’t think you’ll find a more unique rum on this list, save for #5. 90 proof. $100 [BUY IT NOW FROM FROOTBAT] [BUY IT NOW FROM RESERVEBAR]
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