The best rum: top rum brands put to the ultimate drinking test

Not many rums can boast having Nigerian hibiscus, Kenyan black tea and rose petals from Pakistan but when you have Brixton's Market Row on your doorstep, the pick of botanicals is always going to be impressive. This rum went down a little too well in our taste tests, so much that we have to order another bottle. There's some brilliant vanilla notes and a heady hit of spice at the end. Lovely stuff.

Some rum is better taken without a mixer and Mount Gay, which claims to be the oldest rum distillery in the world with a deed from 1703, has created a corker.

‘XO’ stands for extra old and is a blend of different rums aged between seven and 15 years old. It’s dry and oaky on the nose, yet is fruity and slightly sweet in taste, then has a smooth finish.

This is a rum for the whisky lovers, who should try it as an old fashioned

Mount Gay XO has recently gone through a substantial rebrand, with Trudiann Branker, Mount Gay master blender, making it from a broader selection of rums, each aged in three different casks – American whiskey, Bourbon and Cognac.

Another spiced rum that is better than its non-spiced variant - Pirate's Grog is a tasty, golden rum with hints of vanilla and all spice. It's not too sweet but there's a subtlety there. Everything has been matured in American oak, bourbon barrels for five years which seems to add to the smoothness.

When a rum has won no less than seven golds at the Carribean Rum Taste Test you know you’re onto a winner, quite literally.

This 12 year old rum is a blend of Coffey still and double wooden pot still rums. It has a really deep and rich, almost port-like flavour, and a robust body. With notes of caramel, spice, vanilla and prunes it’s really quite moreish.

Given there's over 200-odd years of tradition that goes into making Santa Teresa 1796, we were expecting something special from the drink and it did not disappoint. In our taste tests, we got fantastic notes of fruit from the rich amber liquid. This is followed by swathes of vanilla and dark chocolate and a peppery finish. This one is best enjoyed neat and swirled to release the flavours.

This is a rum a lot of our readers were raving about so we had to get it in and weren't disappointed. It's a dark golden rum, distilled from molasses so expect really strong, rich notes - but these are all cut with a much-needed kick of fruitiness. There is added sugar here, but we loved the taste - it was great with cola, but also decent as sipping rum over ice.

Made in Puerto Rico, Don Q has a whole host of rums but it's the Cristal that's made this list. It's a clear rum which makes it an ideal serve in a cocktail. We found it so smooth that this one could replace vodka in any drink you are planning. This isn't a sweet rum, but one with woody notes. You get a good dollop of citrus, too, in the end warmth of the sip.

This is a fantastic rum that has been aged for a huge (in rum years) 14 years. It's from the Foursquare distillery in Barbados and there is a tropical richness to the taste, with everything from sultanas to mangoes coming through. This is a sweet, intense rum with a taste that lingers longer than most.

A double hit of Cuban flavour, Black Tears is a Cuban rum infused with Cuban spices, notes of coffee and cacao. It’s a full 40% strength drink, and should work well in cocktails that will get on with its coffee-infused flavour.

This is a rum that is diverse. We tried it both straight and in a cocktail (an Old Fashioned) and were impressed with the taste. It's on the sweeter end of the rum spectrum, with chocolate and syrup notes but there's a slight smokiness to it, too. If you are drinking it neat, then we are pleased to report that there is very little burn with each sip. While we taste tested the Nicaragua rum, Berry Bros. & Rudd also have Barbados, Jamaican and Guatemala varieties - all of which, we're sure, are worth checking out.

A Devon rum named after smuggler Jack Rattenbury. Lyme Bay sells both spiced and 8-year-aged golden versions of the rum, which is a blend of three drinks from Barbados, Venezuela and Panama — each similarly aged.

It picked up a Gold Medal at the 2019 International Spirits Challenge. Orange, cinnamon and dark chocolate are three key taste components to the spiced bottle.

We were blown away with the Havana Club - Tributo 2021 edition when we sampled it. Tributo is now into its sixth bottling, with the first back in 2016. If you can get hold of any of the years, then you are very lucky. The 2021 edition came to us in a small sample and is a perfect drink to buy for a gift. Matured in white port wine casks, it offers notes of grapes, nuts, and coffee. There will be only 2,500 bottles made so if you see one, then snap it up

Available now to buy in the UK, Santiago De Cuba Añejo has a real darkness to its taste, with rich molasses coming through as well as burnt caramel and creamy banana - all of this creates a lovely, smooth drink. This is a great rum to drink straight, but would definitely work as the base of a cocktail, too.

Master distiller Billy Walker has taken all the expertise he's gained in the world of whisky and tried his hand at a selection of rums. At MacNair's he's created three rums: a 7 year old, a 7 year old peated and a 15 year old. We have tried the lot and were really impressed with the peated version of the 7 year old. It has a really rich taste of apricots and mango, with brown sugar rounding things off. There's a lovely nose of cigar smoke to the drink, too. At 46% it's a punchy rum - that was second matured in peated single malt casks - and we are big fans.

If you’re looking for an affordable rum that’s hugely versatile then Appleton Estate’s 8 Year Old Reserve is a front runner.

It’s got just the right balance of deep and complex flavours to be drunk neat - think along the lines of a classic Jamaican rum with notes of burnt sugar, dried fruit, vanilla, spices and Appleton’s signature orange peel. However, helped by the price point, you won’t feel guilty if you use it for cocktails.

With its distinctive bottle and branding, Kraken has quickly become a modern classic and a rum you’ll find in pretty much any pub or bar. It’s as dark as squid ink, rich and spicy yet somehow drinks just well neat as it does mixed with coke.

This really is a rum for any home bar.

We were always going to expect something special from a rum that sees two brilliant distilleries team up - Barbados' Foursquare and Gray's Distillery of Mauritius - but this really is a great rum that we've been enjoying on the rocks. It's rich with the oak from the bourbon barrels its finished in, but smooth with an end taste of raisins. The African and Caribbean sides meld well together and we can't get over the lack of heat - sure, there's a warmth but there is a brilliant balance here

Pineapple rum is often overly sweet and artificial tasting but Two Drifters has produced one of the best we’ve ever tasted. As the name suggests, it packs a punch at 63% but also in flavour with gorgeous flambeed pineapple bringing a burnt caramel balance to the fruit and vanilla sweetness.

It tastes great neat but equally delicious mixed with coke. The Devon-based business makes rum from raw ingredients and is also the world’s first rum distillery to be carbon negative.

The Duppy Share is named after the dark duppy spirits that would, as legend has it, swoop between Caribbean islands stealing the best share of the rum.

The spiced edition is a great rum but this blend of 3-year-old Jamaican rum from Worthy Park and Foursquare Distillery’s 5-year-old is our favourite. The younger rum brings vibrant hits of sweet tropical fruit while the older expression balances things with earthy oak and spice.

Go big with this award-winning spiced rum. It kicks off with an intense hit of vanilla and orange peel on the nose. This continues upon sipping, but with a lot more complexity with clove, cardamom and cinnamon.

It’s a reminder of colder months eating toffee apples and Christingles. To top it off, each bottle is wrapped in brown paper, wound with twine and sealed with black wax.

Cut Rum is all about no fuss, authentic rum - strictly “no pirates. No sea monsters. No pin up girls”. No artificial sugars or flavourings allowed here either, this rum is made on the Worthy Park Estate in Jamaica - an estate which has been making rum since the 1740s.

This spiced rum doesn’t pack a punch in the way most spiced rums do (though there’s a definite warmth afterwards). Instead it’s creamy, with flavours of caramel and an aftertaste of vanilla. It’s smooth enough to be enjoyed neat, but would be equally good in a mixer.

If we were basing this one purely on looks, then the awesome leather bag packaging would win this list hands down. Thankfully the taste is great, too, with a rich, Christmas pudding taste. It's got a bit of heat on the way down, so it's better paired with a glug of cola.

This rum is made in the Philippines and has a rich vanilla and honey taste. It's well bodied with a hint of fire. It works well with a mixer (try ginger ale) but we were happy to have it neat, its lemony notes mixing well with what tastes like ripe banana.

Fruited rum is great but can often be over the top. Plantation has got it spot on here, delivering authentic fruit flavour alongside others, such as ginger, cola and vanilla.

Pineapples are infused with Original Dark then distilled, later to be blended with 3 Star white rum, which has had the rind added. The name, if you’re wondering, comes from Reverend Stiggins in Dickens’s Pickwick Papers, whose favourite drink is pineapple rum.

White rum can be a little boring and typically one you keep in a home bar for making cocktails like a Mojito. However, Spirited Union has taken a different approach as the world’s first botanical rum distillery.

You can think of it as a sort of gin-rum hybrid and a great gateway drink for gin lovers to get into this spirit. A range of flavours is available with Lemon & Leaf being the original, distilled with - apart from lemon - a combination of earthy, herbal and spicy notes from kina bark Sarawak pepper, Sarsaparilla root, eucalyptus leaves and black tea.

Unlike many rums on this list, Grander has one point of origin for its rum and that is Panama. This gives it a fruity feel with more than a hint of bourbon and vanilla. It's matured in the tropics, so those eight years really go a long way to give this rum a distinctive taste. Don't be fooled by the colour - there's a deep taste here.

Black Tot Rum is a modern take on the old fashioned rum that was enjoyed by sailors. It's packed with fruitiness, thanks to a mix of Barbados and and Jamaican rum but there's also a nice coffee and chocolate hit thanks to the Guyanan rum in there. This is a really accomplished blend that's good for sipping.

Blending spirits is an art, not a science and this example contains no less than 23 hand-selected rums. The ‘7’ in the name doesn’t refer to age but the places they are from: Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados, Guatemala, Panama, Guyana and Java.

The result is a complex golden rum with a darker side of molasses but balanced with fruitiness and spice. A great rum to drink neat or in cocktails.

You’ll need a white rum in your home bar for making cocktails like mojitos and daiquiris, and you really can’t go wrong with Havana Club as a staple.

Partly because it’s one of the most affordable rums out there but also due to its clean and crisp profile with some subtle flavours in the background including citrus, oak and a nice sweetness.

You might know East London Liquor for its gin but this rum is definitely worth a go, partly because it’s so affordable despite the quality on offer.

It is made in Guyana by Demerara Distillers with the last remaining wooden Coffey still in the world, and aged for three years in ex-bourbon casks. The sugar really comes through here along with big fruity notes.

If you don’t like the idea of using white rum in cocktails then look to OVD and this extremely dark and rich demerara rum.

It really is like drinking alcoholic brown sugar in liquid form and works great in any situation - neat, with any mixer, particularly ginger beer - and in all rum based cocktails to create dark versions. Oh and it’s really affordable, too.

Probably not one for the rum purists out there, but this intriguing rum is worth a try for gin-lovers and the adventurous.

Sweetdram adds various botanicals to a base of aged Guyanese rum including macerated lime leaf, chamomile, cardamom, fennel, grains of paradise and fig.

All that creates a hugely complex and interesting flavour. And, to finish off, lapsang souchong tea imparts some smokiness. You’ll get something different with each sip. Sweetdram is brewed in Edinburgh.