This zero proof rum from Ritual gave us strong notes of cereal and baking spice, with subtler hints of charred apricot, oak, ginger, cinnamon and citrus.

To speak of “legacy brands” in the world of zero-proof rum 2024 is a little like speaking of “legacy brands” in legalized cannabis. Everyone is a newcomer, and yet if there is a legacy brand, it’s probably Ritual. I’ve tried Ritual a number of times over the past couple of years, sometimes neat as an oddity, or in a cocktail where its main job was to make juice taste weird. Revisiting it with a more focused eye its main value proposition has always been in the name: you enjoy the ritual of pouring a brown liquid out of a bottle and drinking it, here is a bottle of brown liquid. On the nose there are strong notes of wheat bread and cereal, perhaps a suggestion of the charred apricot they note on the bottle, and a melange of baking spice warmth that is probably the clearest indication that rum is the target being imitated. On the palate things get interesting; if this is your first experience with a solid rum alternative you may have a moment of glee when you realize “This has a burn to it! How does it have a burn to it without alcohol?”. The heat pulls ginger to the forefront, with cinnamon and other baking spices in close pursuit. It doesn’t finish quite like a rum, but it does have a finish! On a second sip the presence of something acidic is more noticeable (sure enough citric acid is listed as ingredient 6). It’s a bit of a reminder that the thing you’re drinking is not, in fact, rum, but if you forgive that as you must, it does make for an altogether pleasant tipple.