What is the best rum cocktail?

[gilad]

With the global rise of the Mojito over the last few years increasing the saleability of rum to the masses, I was curious to hear feedback on the best cocktails from those that have always loved rum?

[Joe Riley]

I like the list except for the fact that it is very limited.

My favorite rum cocktail that an experienced tiki bartender would have no trouble making would be either a Ti Punch or a Dark and Stormy.

My absolute favorite rum cocktail is the one that I co-invented - the Navy Cross :)

Of the ones you listed in your poll, I'd probably choose the Daiquiri, but I prefer the Papa Doble version, if that counts.

[gilad]

I agree the list is limited but I deliberately so.

The cocktails on the list are all very common place in any bar you go to with a claim to making cocktails.

My favourite has to be the Daiquiri from the list for its simplicity and story if nothing else.

However, I too think that a couple of my own are very good. Of course.

How do you make your cocktail?

[RonJames]

couldn't resist, cube libre for me. Its the one that started it long ago for me, and to this day when I get together with my brother in-laws in puerto rico, there is nothing better than a cube libre, shooting the breeze, and letting time go by.

Daiquiri's and mojitos are good too, if you're in the mood they can't be beat.

[Rum Balls]

I love 'em all, but I voted for the Mai Tai because it's one you can try so many combinations of rums in!

[UnkleNeeko]

I will agree with RonJames, Cuba Libre takes me there too...whether it is just a one drink night or an all day endeavor. However, rum punch was seriously considered.

[Mistahunter]

Put me on the Cuba Libre list as well...

Daiquiri was my runner up...

[Berbician]

It's surprisingly easy to "screw-up" a cocktail as straightforward as a rum punch.

I once asked for a rum punch in a bar in Georgetown (Guyana) and was brought two glasses - one with a shot of rum, and the other with some cherry juice. When the waiter saw the puzzled expression on my face, he promptly poured the rum into the cherry juice. I had to laugh :rolleyes:. Needless to say, I never went there again.

[gatomalo]

What's the best cocktail? Hmm, that depends who's making them!

Unless I'm in a swanky bar which looks like it knows what it's doing (both of which are rare occurrences), I only drink cocktails at home. In my house I can control all the necessary factors and I don't feel so cheated if I screw up. I hate paying through the nose for a badly-made cocktail.

In the UK, when I go out, I go to good pubs and I drink ale. I would never order a rum cocktail in a pub. We have so much great beer in our pubs, and so little good rum, that there seems no point.

To answer the question, my favourite cocktail would probably be a mai tai (if made well). However my usual preferred cocktail at home is a simple Appletons V/X and ginger beer with a splash of fresh lime juice and triple sec.

[martybmccabe]

My absolute favorite rum cocktail is the one that I co-invented - the Navy Cross :)

Umm...sounds interesting...recipe?

[Steven St-Amour]

I missed Ed's challenge on SuprBowl Sunday for the best festive cocktail.

I'm not big on mixes, but I put a little punch together one year that now is the talk of the town.

Punch infusion:

I cut up a range of fruit, what ever tickles your fancy (banana, pineapple, peaches, berry, apple, pear, and other tropical fruits). They become the Ice cubes.

Each party choose the rum that has made you smile, thinking life is good. Chill a fresh bottle.
Chill a bowl
Chill a bottle or two of ginger beer or a pop or juice you feel will compliment the drink but not take over the flavour of the rum. Just add enough mix to create caracter, a gentle bouquet that makes someone say nice as a passing gesture.
So in the chilled bowl we have the rum, the mix, and fruit as Ice cubes.
The beauty of this punch is the frozen fruit release their flavour at different times, the ice rum, bowl and fruit add the touch of water to wake up some of the flavours in the rum. I have omitted the ginger beer once and froze some fresh ginger slices, which created a spicy overtone once we got down to the second bottle of rum, and complimented a fine cigar with the boys once the girls were giggly.

Try it. Punch infusion

[jackvacton]

Ever since I tried Don the Beachcomber's Navy Grog I can't think of another I have preferred more. The Dark n Stormy stuns me every summertime, the Daiquiri made with whichever rum I am in the mood for would also produce an instantaneous grin of satisfaction, as well as the Mai Tai (again Don the Beachcomber's version).

I voted the Mai Tai since it was the only one on the list standing the tallest.

[jjwest]

The cocktails on the list are all very common place in any bar you go to with a claim to making cocktails.


You are a lucky man if finding a proper Mai Tai is commonplace where you are from. Though it is having somewhat of a resurgence in the higher end craft cocktail scene, it is difficult to find a proper one at most bars anywhere in this country. (Don't get me started on the surplus of places that use pineapple juice and grenadine!)

[Edward Hamilton]

My first drink of the day is a ti punch. I don't know any other rum drink that is as simple and satisfying for the first drink. Then a good mai tai, navy grog, or daiquiri, rum punch will suffice. And the last drink is usually something along the lines of a rum old fashioned.

[Barcelo]

I also miss the Ti Punch here (but if you compare this to regular bars, most of them don´t offer Ti Punch "Cocktails").

I voted for Mai Tai if it is properly made with a mixture of Jamaica (Appleton 12) and a nice Agricole (Clement VSOP or St. James Royal Ambre) and has no pineapple and/or orange juice in it ;)

I also like some uncommon recipes like:

Rum Sour Triobar

6cl rum (dark and heavy)
6cl pineapplejuice
juice of 1 lime (more or less 5cl)
2cl simple sugar syrup

recommended is the Old Monk 7yo as a nice heavy rum (as a mixer not sipper), but if you don´t have this one it also works with Appleton Dark or Lambs Navy Rum.

[Richman]

Cuba Libre

Hands down. It's the gateway to the rum world.

Three dot's and a dash is my favorite now. I'm in love with bitters. I add them to everything now, even my Cuba Libre.

[Edward Hamilton]

Cuba Libre

Hands down. It's the gateway to the rum world.

Three dot's and a dash is my favorite now. I'm in love with bitters. I add them to everything now, even my Cuba Libre.

Comparing the best to the best selling or best to the most popular?

If you ask which is the best rum in the world on this forum, most people would probably be appalled if you suggested that the best rum in the world was the most popular, which would probably be Bacardi White or Superior, depending on where you are in the world. But is this the best rum in the world? That my friend, depends on your criteria. If I owned that rum I would more than likely say that it was the best rum in the world. After all it is the one that makes me the most money.

Sure rum and coke is the gateway drink to the rum world, no one will argue that but if it really was the best rum drink why would so many people wander from it. On the other hand, to say that a ti punch, or any other drink, isn't great because it isn't available in your bar suggests that you need to go to some better bars. I'm not picking on anyone or their choice of rum cocktails, drink it any way you want to and use whatever metric you choose to validate your choice.

In the end, I am confident that you'll find that as the most diverse of all the distilled spirits it doesn't take a lot of looking to find better rum cocktails than rum and coke. Personally, it has been several years since I drank a rum and coke. And it wasn't the high fructose corn syrup sweetened concoction that is sold as coke in most places in the US and beyond. It was sugar cane sugar sweetened coke from Central America mixed with 12 year old Flor de Caña.

There is no doubt that rum and coke is the most consumed rum cocktail in the world, but few who have tried anything else would dare to suggest that it is the best.

[Robert]

Cuba Libre for me with the Mai Tai a close second. The best Cuba Libre I had was at a Brazilan eatery and they made it with the sugar cane sweetened cola and their house brand rum which was heads above any regular Cuba Libre I've had before or since.

[ruukasu0808]

Done right, the Mojito is a great experience, but nothing beats the Cube Libre or "Rum & Coke" sans lime, the world's most popularly ordered rum cocktail.

[Lauwy]

In a bar in Lima, Peru, I once drank a cocktail called "gin con gin". It was a large glass filled with gin and mixed with even more gin. My favourite rum cocktail would consist of the same things: rum together with even more rum! And a bit of ice of course. cheers.gif

[Richman]

I think simplicity of ingredients is a very important factor. The fewer and internationally available ingredients earns the drink points. A kind of mathematical elegance, it's purest form or essence you could say. I say gateway to rum world as complement. For many the rum & coke is a familiar and nostalgic starting point on the high seas of the drink world. The one they learned to sail on. Even though they may graduate and move on to larger more refined and complicated ships, they will always remember and keep their first ship. Occasionally trying out new (rums) maneuvers with their old seasoned ship.

[dreliason]

The survey choices were too restrictive for me.
I agree with Richman, simplicity of ingredients is an important factor. I also like his nautical imagery. Put those two things together and you get Red Sail in the Sunset ... a drink now in the Rum Recipe contest. I would like to suggest that you visit the Rum Recipe Contest (home page, left side, part way down). Vote today!

[lesist]

the old fashioned cocktail with a good rum, such as el dorado 21, can't be beaten!

[woody9six]

This is akin to asking me which of my children I like best...:D

[phinz]

I chose the Mai Tai, when done correctly, but my drink of choice is one of several. 3 are served by the Mai Kai in Ft. Lauderdale, one of the best places to imbibe, in my opinion.

1934 Zombie
1950 Zombie
Black Magic
Jet Pilot

[Mikeycanuk]

Mojito. The clean, simple flavours of lime, mint and cachaça can't be beat. It's the next best to neat. I can also make them at home with premium ingredients and minimal fuss.

[Jason]

Mojito. The clean, simple flavours of lime, mint and cachaça can't be beat. It's the next best to neat. I can also make them at home with premium ingredients and minimal fuss.


I think you're mixing up your cocktails mikey. A mojito is made with rum while a caipirhna is made with cacacha (but no mint).

In any event I agree, I love me some mojitos!
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[Mikeycanuk]

So what am I drinking? Not that it really matters...man these are GOOD. :D Gotta get me more limes and a lime press to make things easier. We stayed in a house in Mahahual Mexico (near the Belize border) and there was a great hand lime press.

[blackhat]

i voted for cuba libre...this cocktail is simple but I like it very much))

[Tiki Mon]

A dark and stormy made with Gosling's Black Seal and Grace ginger beer. Has a great bite to it.