Rum is technically identified as a distilled beverage made from sugarcane byproducts or sugarcane juice. Dark rum, however, is seen as the purest expression of one of the most widely used sugarcane byproducts, molasses. The rum is then (generally) aged in oak barrels.Here are six of our favorite dark rums to get you up to date on just how awesome. The intense tropical heat expands and contracts the barrels and the wood becomes porous, like a sponge, forcing the spirit in and out of the oak. This adds all of the flavors present in wood – sweetness, vanillin, tannins etc. Today we want to talk about just one variety of rum — dark rum. These are the molasses distillates that spend years mellowing in bourbon-soaked charred oak. Those barrels impart the spice, tannins, oak, and esters that make dark rum so delectable.
12 Best dark rum:
Gosling’s Black Seal
Distilled from molasses, this Bermudan dark rum has flavors of toffee and rich treacle, with a bitter, coffee finish. The self-appointed original Dark & Stormy rum is great on its own, but it truly shines when paired with fresh lime juice.
El Dorado Original Dark Superior Rum
This Guyanese rum should be everyone’s go-to home bar staple. Cheap yet delicious, it’s rich and flavorful with a sharp, boozy finish. If you're a fan of tiki drinks then you need this spirit in your liquor arsenal.
Coruba Dark Rum
A full bodied dark rum distilled from molasses, this Jamaican spirit is loaded with baking spices and bitter chocolate flavors.
Cruzan Black Strap Rum
Like liquid pancakes and maple syrup, this dark rum from St. Croix is a very unique spirit. Without it, the Jungle Bird, a tiki-masterpiece that shouldn’t work but somehow does, would not exist.
Lemon Hart 151 Demerara Rum
When this overproof rum suddenly disappeared from liquor stores and distributors nationwide, every rum lover and tikiphile panicked. Bars bought as many cases as possible, while at-home rum enthusiasts fought amongst themselves, snatching up every retail bottle on the shelves.
Hamilton Demerara Rum
A blend of barrel-aged demerara rums, this Guyanese spirit from rum importer Ed Hamilton is a welcome addition to the dark rum market.
Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva
On the palate, there are notes of bitter cacao, cinnamon and burnt sugar with a long-lasting, mouth-coating finish.
Gosling’s Family Reserve Old Rum
This blend of Bermudan dark rums is aged until it achieves an extra dark, viscous complexity. Similar to a VSOP Cognac, it has bold aromatics, and is dense and rich on the palate. There are flavors of caramelized flan, burnt brown sugar, baking spice, vanilla oak and pipe tobacco.
Zacapa
It has flourishes of stone fruit, raisins, and baking spices. The finish is sweet and spicy, with heavy wafts of vanilla and white pepper.
Plantation Original Dark
The rum is produced in Trinidad, barreled in American oak casks, and aged in the Caribbean climate. Then, the spirit travels to France where it is blended with 15-20-year-old Jamaican rums and aged again in French cellars. With flavors of dried pineapple, black pepper, clove and allspice, the funky rum has a warming finish of brown sugar, pepper and tropical fruit.
Facundo Paraiso Rum
On the palate the rum is rich and syrupy, with flavors of roasted walnut (think Nonino), tobacco and dark fruit chutney, with a long, creamy, oaky finish from its many years spent in a cask.