The Premise

There may be no rum origin more quintessential than Jamaica. Known for the fresh, fruity and funky flavors produced by long fermentations and pot still distillation, Jamaican rum holds a special place in many spirit enthusiasts’ hearts, including my own. In fact, the plurality of rum in my liquor cabinet is from Jamaica. There’s something about the complex, ester forward profile that makes many Jamaican rums not only indispensable cocktail ingredients, but also compelling tipples to be sipped neat.

While there are a number of limited run vintage bottlings that are easy to swoon over, (Appleton Hearts, Hampden Great House, Jamaican installments of Habitation Velier, I could go on) here I was interested in lining up all the standard release aged Jamaican rums I could get my hands on, and seeing how they stack up. Specifically, I limited myself to rums that have some, but no more than 8 years of age. Functionally this excluded Appleton 12, 15 and 21, but not much else.

The System

You can read more about our review system here, but the general idea is that we (my partner and I) tasted all of these rums blind, both neat in a Glencairn, then mixed as a daiquiri. We recorded tasting notes and ratings without knowing what the rum was, then later I rated each expression on its presentation (a nice looking bottle isn’t everything, but it certainly is, well, nice) and transparency, culminating in an unblind review where I get to consider all these factors, as well as how the rum stacks up to the field. The final ranking is determined by an average of the blind neat rating, blind mixed rating, presentation, transparency, and the unblinded review. If that all sounds a bit convoluted, it is; but it’s fun : ) Without further ado, here are all the rums we tasted, in order:

By the Numbers

Because of course we need a little data analysis. Our average bottle cost around $31, our average rating was 7.0, and our average minimum age was 1.6 years (though this is pulled down by rums without an age statement). Our most expensive rum, Hampden 8, clocked in at $59.99, and our least expensive, Navy Bay cost only $19.99. Unsurprisingly there’s a positive relationship between price and overall rating, but what is interesting is how weak the correlation is at the very high end of the quality spectrum; while our highest rated rum, Hampden 8, was also our most expensive, our second highest rated rum, Worthy Park 109 was, at $27.99, cheaper than our average bottle.

I was also curious to see how our blind ratings stacked up to the aggregated community rating on RumX. In general our ratings were pretty similar; the average Rum X score was 7.1, and the average blind neat score we assigned was 7.0. Our scores were positively correlated, with an R2 of 0.48. The most “underrated rum” (i.e., the rum where our blind score exceeded the RumX rating the most) was Myers’s Original Dark Rum, and the most “overrated rum” was Doctor Bird (this kind of hurts to see, because I think Doctor Bird is a really delightful rum and don’t think it’s overrated consciously, but hey, the blind data is what it is).

Standouts and Recommendations

In all honesty, there are very few rums on this list you could go wrong with. Most of them are both flavorful and approachable. Some provide better value for money, and many serve particular roles, but I’d particularly recommend everything that clocked in at 7.5 and above.

Appleton Estate Reserve 8 is an overall great expression from Appleton, and a really gentle introduction to Jamaican Rum. While it may not fully deliver Jamaican fruity-funkiness, it’s a great rum to sip neat, or an all-around team player in a cocktail.

Smith & Cross Traditional Jamaica Rum is an icon of the rum world, and for good reason. It’s insanely flavorful, and while it may be a bit aggressive to sip neat for some, any cocktail recipe that calls for “Aged Jamaican Rum” or “Gold Jamaican Rum” should be honored to be instantiated with Smith & Cross.

Worthy Park 109 may have been the rum that, out of the entire lineup, delighted me the most. It’s simultaneously deeply rich and boldly fruity. It’s not really positioned as an “elevated” sipping spirit, but specifically in the “black rum” category where you’re looking for deep color and a bit of chewiness, WP 109 is 100% the way to go. The cherry on top is that it’s an incredibly good deal.

Hampden Estate Single Jamaican Rum 8 has all of the flavor of Smith & Cross, and all of the refinement and gentility of Appleton Estate Reserve 8. The main drawback is that (at least in my market in Seattle) it’s pretty damn expensive, but beyond that I have no notes. It’s bold, fruity, complex, and a stellar guest in any snifter or cocktail.