White rum? More like ‘white YUM’!
I apologise, that was untoward. But was I wrong? White rum is a bright, clear and unmistakeably delicious spirit, which you’ve most likely experienced as the core ingredient of a reasonably-priced rum and coke. But what if white rum was more than a sweet-ish adjunct to a tasty late-week beverage?
Making things clear
‘White rum’ is an extremely broad church, encompassing a vast variety of rums and rum-distilling processes; this is, essentially, because the term does absolutely nothing for the classification of rum. White rums have two things in common; that they’re derived from sugarcane (or sugar beet), and that they’re somewhat clear. This does a disservice to the great breadth of products on the market that fit this superficial bill.
Just as bourbons and Scotch single malts are recognised for their differences and categorised accordingly, so too should rums be considered in terms of their geography, history and distillatory processes. Concerning age, there are key differences; some white rums have never seen the inside of a barrel, while others spend a fair whack of time resting on oak before being filtered.
Style and flavour
From ageing conventions to fermentation practices, the flavour differences between the distinct forms rum can take are palpable – whether the youthfully exuberant herb and vegetation of unaged rums and rhums agricoles, or the softened, sometimes woody-sweet character of certain aged rums. Geography plays a huge part in this too, between local fermenting traditions and the different climatic properties of each region.
Jamaican rums, for instance, are renowned for their funk – a near-ineffable flavour profile made possible by the breakdown of complex fatty acids in the fermenting process (themselves present for the addition of ‘muck’ to the mash; for now, and if you’re new to rum, the less you know about this the better).
Meanwhile, Barbadian rums tend to carry the darker, spicier flavour profiles commonly attributed to bourbon, on account of reflecting more flavours imparted from the maturation process than from the fermentation process.
Best white rums to buy at a glance
- Best overall: East London Liquor Co. East London Rum - £24.99, Amazon
- Best for delicious jack-of-all-trades-i-ness: Diplomatico Planas White Rum - £35.90, Amazon
- Best for a reliable base cocktail spirit: El Dorado 3 Year Old Rum - £28.48, Amazon
- Best for makin’ Zombies: Wray & Nephew Overproof Rum - £29.75, Amazon
- Best for entry-level drinks-mixing: Old J Coconut - £29.48, Amazon
- Best for molasses-sweet carbon negativity: Two Drifters Pure White Rum - £42.69, Amazon
- Best for sipping and thinking: Paranubes Caña Morada Rum - £63.03, Master of Malt
- Best for bougie mojitos: Havana Club 3 Year Old Rum - £20.50, Waitrose Cellar
- Best for a unique tasting experience: Signature Blend #1 "Full Proof" Anniversary Release (That Boutique-y Rum Company) - £39.95, Master of Malt
- Best for inexpensive funk-fun: Rum-Bar Silver - £22.99, Amazon
Regionality is discussion enough for a dissertation, but here we’re concerned with flavour. Our list is very much a beginner’s who’s-who of rums bright and clear, with a sprinkling of intriguing bottles for those of a more inquiring palate. Santé, salud, and/or bless up!
East London Liquor Co. East London Rum
Best: overall
The East London Liquor Co. is kind-of-quietly bashing out some of the best spirits you’ll find on British soil, with solid gins and some highly expressive English whiskies; they’ve also got some blending on the go, as evidenced by this brilliant white rum that combines three distillates from three iconic Jamaican sources. It’s got a clean, balanced and rounded nose that doesn’t frighten; it’s a rare white rum that invites neat sipping so readily, and for which sipping neat pays off so quickly.
The palate is a soft, clear but rounded thing, with a dry feel but a sweet character. There’s an olive-in-brine quality to the body, which serves to add a touch of intrigue behind big nectar and banana-skin brightness. It’s got incredible flavour for its ABV, and will do most anything you ask it to – including adorn your glass alone.
Buy now £24.99, Amazon
Diplomatico Planas White Rum
Best for: delicious jack-of-all-trades-i-ness
Diplomatico is something of a hero brand for the hospitality industry’s collective core backbar. Go into any decent craft beer bar and you’ll see something Diplomatico as a house rum, outshining the other house spirits by an order of magnitude. The Planas is Diplomatico’s white rum offering, aged and filtered for a clear countenance and a characteristically smooth… character.
The Planas has an invitingly bright, soft nose, carrying vanilla, rolled oats and a touch of milkybar (perhaps an amalgam of clean sugar-sweetness and dairy-ish coconut hints) – with a modicum of nostril-tickling booze to remind you this is bottled a little higher-proof than most.
The Planas’ bottle encourages you to try it neat, and it is surprisingly affable in this regard – albeit a little sharp on the booze front. That white-chocolate sweetness is very much present, alongside coconut shavings and some fresh garden herbs. A little woodiness from the ageing adds backbone, but doesn’t grab at you. The finish is sweet and a little minty. By all means sip this, but don’t stop there; use it for a smooth, bright, plussed-up mojito too.
Buy now £35.90, Amazon
El Dorado 3 Year White Rum
Best for: a reliable base cocktail spirit
El Dorado will be a familiar brand to many, having more or less cornered the market on readily-available premium rums in supermarkets and off-licences alike. This Guyanese range hails from the last distillery in Diamond, and one of the older rum distilleries in the Caribbean – where rums are still produced using old-school and long-surviving wooden stills.
The El Dorado 3 Year Old may receive some of its distillate from these iconic stills, but its developed character comes more from the three-plus years spent maturing in oak. The nose is, in a word, easy. It’s sweet, momentarily fruity and otherwise uncomplicated, little boozy bite to catch you. Sipped neat, the booze makes a pronounced early entry, but only over a thin slick of sweet coconut butter – and only to be quickly cleaved by cranberry skin and mint coffee. It’s a clean white rum, and the perfect base spirit for practically anything shaken!
Buy now £28.48, Amazon
Wray & Nephew Overproof Rum
Best for: makin’ Zombies
Wray and Nephew’s Overproof Rum is, potentially, one of the most iconic white rums on the planet. That yellow-and-green label is a prominent fixture in backbars internationally, and an immediately-recognisable arbiter of something powerful this way coming. For the unfamiliar, this overproof rum is a funk-heavy, high-ABV thing that showcases some quintessential Jamaican flavours in the process. The nose is full of sugar and meaty spice, with a streak of honey to pull you in.
Neat, this is obviously a fulsome-tasting affair, and especially big on the booze – all the better, though, to bring a cavalcade of incredible notes through whatever you’ve mixed it with. Treacle, banana, fuel, burnt orange, pome-fruit are all present in varying degrees, making this a real journey of a rum. It’s a bit much alone, but it’s perfect in tropical-flavoured mixed drinks, whether in a multi-stage passionfruit-y cocktail or just in a glass with Ting.
Buy now £30.00, Amazon
Admiral's Old J Coconut
Best for: entry-level drinks-mixing
We’re bending the rules a tad for the students at the back here, with a highly affordable coconut rum spirit drink from Admiral’s Old J. This is one of those less-than-37.5% bottles, that can’t be a spirit, but it doesn’t share altogether much in common with the often-bizarre saccharine-sweet grain-alcohol travesties you can find in certain budget supermarkets.
It smells, of course, supremely sweet. It’s hard to get past the gomme-iness at first, but when you do, you find candied lime, vanilla pod and milk-bottle sweets on the nose. It’s herbier on the tongue, with a surprisingly sharp lick of boozy rum before bright, spicy sugar leads you to another surprise in its dry, tingly, mint-and-basil finish. On the face of things, this is an exciting Malibu alternative; in reality, it is a soft, sweet, spiced and slight sort-of grog-in-a-bottle, and something you could easily drink over ice – or start your rum-mixing journey with.
Buy now £29.48, Amazon
Two Drifters Pure White Rum
Best for: molasses-sweet carbon negativity
This white rum is a clear and clean British-made offering from the Devon distillery Two Drifters, and one with a mission as clean (so to speak) as its flavour profile. Two Drifters is a carbon negative rum distillery that pays close attention to the carbon it creates and does its best to avoid said creation altogether. Labels are made with waste sugarcane and hemp; bottles are UK-made and lightweight; unavoidable carbon creation is more-than offset via a third-party carbon capture programme. Good, then, that this rum is good!
This white rum is bright without being over-sharp, rich as it is in vanillic honey smoothness and orange oil. There’s fruit to be found on the palate, but molasses-sweetness from the ferment carries through; the finish brings buzzy pepper, apple skin and lime. This is a fantastically crisp spirit in all, and an excellent canvas for delicate concoctions.
Buy now £42.69, Amazon
Paranubes Caña Morada Rum
Best for: sipping and thinking
This is a Mexican rum from the good ship Paranubes, a Oaxacan distillery with a small but highly impressive range of bottles. The Caña Morada is so named for being a single-varietal rum, which uses only the figurative fruits of the morada sugar cane for its ferment. The result is an astonishing (and somewhat rare) study of produce and place.
The nose has a tactile, vegetal quality, putting that morada cane right at the centre; you’ll find tomato leaf, fresh green olive and a touch of garden herb, all dry-brined in raw sugar. The palate continues with the theme, this time adding some politely surprising spice notes that incorporate pickled pepper and cinnamon, and the lightly sweet-savoury finish rounds things off beautifully. Sip this on ice, or use it as a master-flourish finisher for something special.
Buy now £63.03, Master of Malt
Havana Club 3 Year Old Rum
Best for: bougie mojitos
Havana Club is another classic rum brand, and one which often shows up in threes on the next shelf up behind your fave bartender’s head. Invariably, you’ll find the Havana Club 3 Year Old on the left – a light rum that wears its years a little more prominently than the rest.
This ‘white’ rum retains some straw hues from its three-or-more years in ex-Bourbon casks, which imbue some quintessential oaky warmth to the palate. The nose is brighter and even a little pineapple-juicy, with a complex sweetness and some herby intrigue. The taste and finish are rewardingly spicy, making this a fantastic statement spirit for quality core rum cocktails.
Buy now £20.50, Waitrose Cellar
That Boutique-y Rum Company Signature Blend #1 "Full Proof" Anniversary Release
Best for: a unique tasting experience
That Boutique-y Rum Company is a blending operation that seeks to pull the most intriguing barrels from around the world into their fair portion of limelight, whether small independent-distillery produce or forgotten distillates from famed places. This, the Signature Blend #1, is an anniversarian exercise in flavour, combining unaged Jamaican rums and Martinique rhums to create something uniquely characterful.
The nose holds few notes, but does a great deal with them. You’ll find some classic coco-vanilla sugar-sweetness at the start, but structured with some floral grassiness. The palate is rounder and thicker, with tropical- and aged-fruit depth ensconced in succulent honey. The finish brings herbiness forward, with a little zing to refresh the palate. A well-balanced blend that won’t resemble much else you’ve tried before!
Buy now £39.95, Master of Malt
Worthy Park Rum-Bar Silver
Best for: inexpensive funk-fun
The Rum-Bar range is a young one by Jamaica’s standards, being the first product from a recently (by distillery standards, at least) re-launched Worthy Park distillery – a new Jamaican rum making machine on an historic estate. Though new, history and knowledge still thrum in Worthy Park’s smart single-estate offerings, including its most innocuous bottle, the Rum-Bar Silver.
Rum-Bar Silver is a blend of three un-aged Worthy Park rums, each of which provide increasing quantities of funk. Put simply, it’s a gift that a white rum this inexpensively-priced – and at this low proof – can be in possession of so much quintessential funk flavour. The nose is a woozy fruit-bowl of overripe tropical notes, sweetened by creamy banana and blossom honey. The top notes are sharp and excitingly noxious. It’s even better on the palate, with a big, fatty banana-fritter beginning and some fun herby, citric length. This one’s hard to do justice, and a must-try for easy-access Jamaican rum funk.
Buy now £22.99, Amazon
Verdict
The Diplomatic Planas White Rum is a brilliant bottle, combining accessibility and complexity in a thoroughly versatile bottle.
However, the East London Liquor Co. East London Rum has won out on account of putting the fun in funky, having created something amazing from three amazing Jamaican sources.
