11 Essential White Rums For Your Liquor Cabinet

While many white spirits are unaged, most white rums do spend time in a barrel—and then have their color stripped out. This beautiful Nicaraguan rum spends four whole years in oak; the flavor is dry and a little toasty, with hints of fruit and vanilla but not sweet in the slightest. ($20 at flaviar.com) Try it in: A piña colada

This Barbadian producer, the oldest in the Western Hemisphere, is better known for their golden Eclipse rum. But their Silver, made from both pot and column-still rum and then triple-filtered, is tasty and versatile, whether you’re using it to spike up a Coke or in more elaborate cocktails. ($25 at caskcartel.com) Try it in: A Cuba Libre

While rums from different nations tend to have distinct styles, the Banks 5 Island blends spirit from (you guessed it) five: Trinidad, Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana, and Java. Each of these rums has been aged between three and five years. The resulting rum is extremely complex with a real weight to it—ideal in cocktails. ($36 at reservebar.com) Try it in: A classic daiquiri

Many bartenders pledge their allegiance to this Dominican white rum, using it both in their well and in craft cocktails. Aged as long as the Brugal añejo rum (between two and five years), it’s triple-filtered to remove the color, leaving behind a spirit that’s as smooth as it gets. ($20 at totalwine.com) Try it in: A pleasantly dry mojito

Developed by the 86 Company, producing spirits intended for bartenders, Caña Brava is, unsurprisingly, quite popular amongst the cocktail set—a Panamanian rum modeled after the crisp, clear classic Cuban style that’s hard to find in the States these days. ($29 at totalwine.com) Try it in: A Hemingway daiquiri 

This Guyanese rum from a centuries-old distillery is a screaming value, rich and creamy with fragrant hints of vanilla, citrus, and coconut. ($19 at drizly.com) Try it in: A classic daiquiri

Okay, we’re being a little coy, because you can’t legally purchase this classic Cuban rum in the States. (That whole embargo thing.) But since Havana Club is distributed by liquor-world heavyweight Pernod Ricard, you can pick up a bottle at duty-free virtually everywhere outside the States. So put your Toronto or Frankfurt layover to good use and bring home a bottle. Crisp and light as they come, it’s the ideal choice for mojitos, daiquiris, and anything else Cuban-inspired.  ($20 at totalwine.com) Try it in: Any of these Cuban classics

Another great value, Plantation blends rums from three islands (young rum from Barbados, 2-3 year rum from Trinidad, and older rums from Jamaica). Created by Maison Ferrand, the famed Cognac house, there’s a true finesse to the blend. Complex, light-bodied, a little grassy. ($20 at totalwine.com) Try it: With soda water and lime

Sourced from the Caribbean, then blended in Amsterdam, Denizen is a carefully designed aged white rum—column-distilled Trinidadian rum from the celebrated Angostura distillery, along with 15 types of Jamaican pot-still rum. It’s got a real hint of fruit and funk from the latter, far more so than most rums in this category—a quality that many rum fans prize.  ($24 at reservebar.com) Try it: On the rocks

Utterly unlike any bottle on this list, Wray and Nephew is formidable—up at 126 proof, nearly double the strength of most spirits. But it’s a classic and beautifully-made Jamaican rum, and a key player in many tiki cocktails. It’s funky, unpredictable, powerful, and a splash of it enlivens many a drink. ($25 at wine.com) Try it in: Rum punches

Rum, by definition, is made from sugar. Most rums, including just about every rum the casual drinker would be familiar with, is made from fermented molasses, a sugar byproduct. But the spirit known as rhum agricole is distilled from sugarcane juice, and as a result, it’s a whole different animal—extremely fruity, funky, and wild-tasting in a way nearly unique among spirits. If you’re used to the Bacardi style, it might be off-putting, but for spirits nerds, this Martinique rhum is where it’s at. ($30 at wine.com) Try it in: Martinique’s Ti Punch