Standard Release

This lightly aged rhum agricole from Rhum J.M in Martinique is a clean tasting workhorse that performs better than many more premium positioned rums.

This member of Rhum J.M’s L’Atelier des Rhums is a pretty classic expression of agricole fruity-herbaceousness, but probably the least successful of the line’s three rums.

This 3 year old rhum agricole from La Mauny in Martinique is a straightforward and approachable expression of its category.

This non-alcoholic rum from Bare Zero brings an interesting funkiness to the NA light rum format, but is more successful as a mixer than a spirit to sip neat.

Dark & Spicy is a rum-inspired non-alcoholic spirit from Caleño that’s tasty, but fails to live up to its name.

Light and Zesty is a non-alcoholic rum-inspired spirit with a fresh, fruity nose and palate and a light finish.

This non-alcoholic rum from Philters has a spice-forward profile and works both served neat and mixed.

The non-alcoholic rum from Espadafor is an absolute acid bomb.

This non-alcoholic rum from Arkay is full of fire but lacking in flavor.

This non-alcoholic rum from Clean Co avoids the worst of the common NA pitfalls, but fails to stand out or taste particularly like rum.

This non-alcoholic rum from Ish utilizes a novel dealcoholization method, and is itself quite novel. While it’s a bit challenging as a neat sipper, it shows up nicely in cocktails and captures a funkiness elusive to most NA rums.

This non-alcoholic rum from Seir Hill let us down, and while it didn’t taste great, it avoided some of the worst failures of zero proof.

This non-alcoholic rum from Bare Zero has a banana-forward profile that plays great in cockatils.

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. 16 bottles later, here are my favorite standard release aged Jamaican rums.

This pot column blend from J. Wray & Nephew gave us strong notes molasses and chocolate, with hints of banana, grape, wood, brown sugar, and baking spice.

This pot still rum distilled at Worthy Park in Jamaica and finished in Moscatel casks in Michigan gave us note of overripe banana and pineapple.

This young, pot still rum distilled by Worthy Park gave us notes of overripe banana with hints of butter, pear, flower shop, cinnamon, and ginger.

This molasses based pot still rum from Hampden Estate gave us notes of pineapple, oak and solvent, with hints of coconut, banana, pepper, ginger, mango and dried stone fruit.

This molasses based pot column blend from multiple Jamaican distilleries gave us notes of spices and toasted sugar, with hints of cola, banana, maple, pepper and coffee.

This molasses based pot column blend from Appleton Estate gave us notes of oak and toasted sugar, with notes of caramel, molasses, botanicals, orange peel, cinnamon and vanilla.

This molasses pot column blend from an unknown Jamaican distillery gave us notes of solvent and pineapple, with hints of banana, brown sugar, tea, and oak.

This pot still rum from multiple Jamaican distilleries gave us strong notes of solvent and smoke, with hints of caramel, banana, brine, ginger and medicine.

This pot column blend from multiple Jamaican distilleries gave us notes of banana and baking spice, with hints of chocolate, pie crust, coffee, and rubber.

This pot column blend from multiple Jamaican distilleries gave us notes of tropical fruit and butterscotch, with subtler hints of solvent, strawberry, pineapple, coconut, and baking spice.

This pot still rum from Worthy Park Estate in Jamaica gave us strong notes of toasted sugar and banana, with subtler hints of oak, orange, pineapple, allspice, and vanilla.

This pot column blend from Appleton Estate in Jamaica gave us strong notes of caramel of chocolate, with hints of vanilla, brown sugar, ethanol, bitterness, and molasses.

This unaged pot still distilled by Worthy Park in Jamaica and bottled by Ed Hamilton’s Ministry of Rum gave us notes of butter, grass and sweat, with hints of cream, flowershop, leather, and coconut.

This pot column blend from multiple distilleries in Jamaica gave us notes of molasses and solvent, with subtler hints of pineapple, green apple, caramel, banana bread and vanilla.

This pot column blend from Appleton Estate in Jamaican gave us strong notes of brown sugar and wood, with subtler hints of caramel, cinnamon, pineapple, orange peel and glue.

This iconic pot still rum from multiple Jamaican distilleries gave us strong notes of pineapple and solvent, with subtler hints of acetic acid, berry, smoke, banana, rubber, flower, and ginger.

This pot still rum from Worthy Park in Jamaica gave us strong notes of banana, with subtler hints of cereal, apple, varnish, allspice, coconut, toffee, and oak.

This pot column blend from Foursquare in Barbados gave us strong notes of vanilla and oak, with subtler hints of caramel, dried coconut, and baking spices.

This zero-proof rum from 270º Botanicals gave us strong notes of latex and pineapple, with subtler hints of bubblegum.

This zero-proof rum from Lyre’s gave us strong notes of pineapple and coconut, with subtler hints of butter, ginger, flowers, chile, citrus.

This zero proof rum from ArKay gave us strong notes of vanilla cake and refrigerant, with subtler hints of bubblegum, cotton candy, coconut, and crayon.

This zero proof rum from 270º Botanicals gave us strong notes of latex and burnt meat, with subtler hints of caramel, artificial coffee, and nondescript nut.

This zero proof rum from Lyre’s gave us strong notes of caramel, with subtler hints of cola, butterscotch, baking spice and mint.

This zero proof rum from Strykk gave us strong notes of mint, and ginger, with subtler hints of black tea, orange, vanilla and oak.

This zero proof rum from Crystal gave us insanely strong notes of bubblegum and not much else. Perhaps this was a bit of peach.

This zero proof rum from Monday gave us strong notes of cereal and oak, with subtler hints of oak, caramel, citrus, banana, and decaf coffee.

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.