To mark World Rum Day on 9 July, The Spirits Business editorial team has looked to its booze shelves and picked out its favourite rums from across the category.

From rums produced in the Caribbean to tots blended in Devon, keep reading to find out what the SB team will be reaching for on Saturday.

Hattiers Eminence rum

Last month I was lucky enough to visit the Hattier’s blending and bottling facility located in what might just be the most beautiful and enviable location to work on the British Isles. It was during a tasting with founder Philip Everett-Lyons that I fell hard for the brand’s Eminence expression. This blended aged white rum is not to be underestimated. Despite being presented without colour, it features a characterful blend of five- and eight-year-old rums from Barbados and Trinidad, and a five-year-old rum from Australia, all combined with an unaged Jamaican expression.

The water-like presentation is a result of carbon filtration, which has removed what I imagine would have been a rich naturally amber colour from the liquid, similar to those found in Hattier’s other bottlings. The result is a spirit packed with personality and a creamy mouthfeel. I picked up notes of foam banana on the palate, and wafts of exploded icing sugar bags on the nose, and can confirm it brings a generous measure of complexity to my favourite cocktail, the Pina Colada.

Georgie Pursey, digital editor

Havana Club’s Rum of Skepta

The musician worked alongside the Havana club maestros to create this sweeter expression. I tried it in Cuba on a press trip, and I’ve never enjoyed a rum neat more. The no-age-statement rum is a limited edition tot, though, so I haven’t managed to get my hands on a bottle of my own… yet.

I couldn’t recommend this rum more if you’re a fan of vanilla, cocoa and tropical fruits notes, and it’s also delicious in any rum-based cocktail.

Alice Brooker, staff writer

Eminente Reserva

They say the first taste is with the eyes, and Eminente’s beautiful bottle design certainly draws you in. The brand hails from Cuba and its heritage and provenance are woven into every design detail.

The stunningly textured bottle was designed to emulate the skin of a crocodile, Cuba’s native animal – and thankfully, the rum inside the bottle tastes as delicious as it looks. The seven-year-old liquid is packed with medjool dates, light cinnamon, vanilla and a touch of dark cocoa. It’s beautiful for sipping neat, or mixing in a cocktail for something extra special.

Melita Kiely, editor

La Hechicera Serie Experimental No.2

When Colombian brand La Hechicera brought out a banana-flavoured bottling as part of its experimental series in 2020, I jumped at the chance to sample it during an online tasting.

Infused with large amounts of organic banana flesh, the expression is a blend of rums aged up to 21 years and matured in American white oak barrels.

The rum has a lovely caramelised sweetness with ripe bananas, vanilla, dried fruit and almonds. While it is delicious both neat and over ice, it’s worth mixing it up in a Rum Old Fashioned or Mojito.

Nicola Carruthers, deputy editor

Equiano Light

When the global rum ambassador launches his own rum brand, you know it’s going to be something to pay attention to. The brand offers a premium blend of Afro-Caribbean rums to the brand’s two bottle portfolio, which comprises Equiano Original, and Equiano Light. It is the latter that I like to pour when I’m in the mood for a sipper.

This light Champagne-coloured rum is both grassy and fruity, blended from a combination of spirits from Four Square in Barbados and Gray’s in Mauritius, both of which are made from fresh sugarcane juice. It won a Gold medal in The Rum Masters 2021, and it’s another tot that happens to perform well in a Pina Colada, so it’s a Gold from me, too.

Georgie Pursey, digital editor