Celebrate National Rum Day 2025 With These Cocktails & Bottles

National Rum Day will take place this Saturday (August 16), and as we’re known to do here at Spirit.Ed, we’ve got some cocktails and bottles worth crafting at home and adding to your bar carts. We’re putting a focus on rum-based sips and premium bottles made strictly for sipping as we explore this versatile and tasty spirit. I’ve covered rum quite a bit on Spirit.Ed and I’m still learning the category, which is the whole point of this column. While I have several go-tos of note, I’ve been blessed to dive into brands both new and familiar, and I’m enjoying the ride. As it goes with these designated days, there isn’t much history pointing to why August 16 is National Rum Day, but any excuse to enjoy rum’s sweet flavors and the influences of either the sugarcane or molasses used for the distialle is good enough for me.

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Back in March for National Cocktail Day, I shared the recipe for the Best of Barbados Old Fashioned, using two famed brands in the rum world, Mount Gay and Foursquare’s Doorly’s 12. As I said then, I don’t know if I’m the first to combine these two distinct Barbadian rums, but everyone I’ve made this drink for has given it high marks. Best of Barbados Old Fashioned by D.L. Chandler Ingredients: 1 Oz Mount Gay Black Barrel 1 Oz Doorly’s 12 Year Old Bar spoon or 1/4 oz of rich simple or demerara syrup. 2 dashes of Angostura bitters* *For a different flavor profile, try out different bitters such as orange or chocolate. Method: In a rocks glass, build the drink over a large cube, or any good clear ice. Combine all ingredients over the ice and stir until mixed (around 20 seconds). Express the peel of an orange atop the glass and toss it into the drink. Enjoy! There are plenty of rums I’ve not had the pleasure of trying, so if I missed your brand or they aren’t listed, the best way to get them on my radar is to reach out via email (dchandler@bhmdigital.com). Further, it’s difficult to write about a product I haven’t tried, so please, when possible, send something my way and I’ll give it a fair shot. Also, everything listed here, I either purchased myself, which is the bulk of the list, or I was gifted a bottle as a sample, and thank you to those who did so. I didn’t get a lot of pitches for cocktails or bottles this year for whatever reason, and I’m too busy to chase down publicists to inquire as to why. I hope we can correct that in the coming weeks, months, and years. Help me, help you! For now, let’s celebrate National Rum Day the right way with these cocktails and bottles. Enjoy the day! — Photo: Getty

1. Appleton Estate

Appleton Estate was founded in 1749 in Jamaica’s Nassau Valley, and typifies the country’s style of rum with its tropical, fruity notes and the distinct “funk” most experience in the aroma and sip. Of the brand’s core offerings, I’m most familiar with the 15-year-old Black River Casks expression and the premium 21-year-old Nassau Valley Casks rums. Unadulterated by sugar or caramel coloring, rum purists praise Appleton for their dedication, and I can attest to the quality of their aged products, which are made for sipping or cocktails that help the spirit shine.

Learn more here.

2. Bacoo

Thanks to the great DMV Spirits, I was able to procure a bottle of the brand’s 12-year expression. According to what I could find online, the rum is reportedly additive-free and made from sugarcane juice in the Dominican Republic. As a sipper, the 80-proof rum is an easy pour, especially for someone who routinely drinks 90 proof and up. It still packs a ton of flavor at this proof, and while I wouldn’t necessarily mix it, it would hold up in a cocktail.

Learn more here.

3. Bumbu Banger

Ingredients:
2 oz Bumbu Original
2 oz Strawberry Puree
0.5 oz Lime Juice
Top w/ Ginger Ale
Lime

Method:
Fill a shaker with ice and add Bumbu Rum, strawberry puree, and lime juice. Shake well until chilled and strain into a highball or Collins glass filled with ice. Top with ginger ale and stir gently. Garnish with a lime wheel (optional)

4. Equiano

I’ll keep it a stack with you all. I’ve yet to try Equiano, but as CASSIUS is part of Urban One, Inc., which is Black-owned, it’s only right to feature a rum brand that’s also Black-owned. I’ll be sure to obtain bottles of Equiano’s expressions soon and will do a full review for Sprit.Ed.

Learn more here.

5. Foursquare Distillery

Foursquare Distillery crafts its excellent rums in Barbados, and as I shared above, I am always using their products for my cocktails and whenever I need a solid dram. The photos here are just a few bottles that I own, all of which I’ve purchased, so apparently I’m a fan. Each of the subsegment brands, like R.L. Seale, Doorly’s, Old Brigand (aka One Eye Man), and the coveted Exceptional Cask Series, all have distinct differences. The brand doesn’t add sugar or coloring to its products, and they certainly don’t need those additives.

Learn more here.

6. Gingerberry Punch (Bacardi)

7. Hydrator

8. Mount Gay Rum

Mount Gay Rum was founded in 1703, making it the oldest rum brand in the world, and it certainly earned its place in the annals of rum lore by creating a consistent, additive-free product. I’m fond of the Black Barrel expression, but I had XO on a tour of the tourism experience some time ago, and I may have to change my rankings. I have a cask strength bottle as well that I purchased during the experience that I still haven’t opened due to its rarity. 

Learn more here.

9. Pina Colada

2 oz. Ron del Barrilito Three Stars
2 oz. cream of coconut
4 oz. pineapple juice
Garnish: dehydrated pineapple

10. Rum Espresso Martini

11. Rum Lemondrop

12. Rum Old Fashioned

Ingredients
50ml Brugal 1888
10ml Coconut Syrup
3 dashes of Coffee Bitters

Directions
Add Brugal 1888, coconut syrup and coffee bitters to cocktail shaker. Stir and strain over ice. Add an orange twist

13. Santa Teresa 1796

Santa Teresa 1796 is a premium rum from Venezuela made in the solera style, featuring rums ranging in age from four to 35 years in age. It is also the first rum brand to use the solera method, itself inspired by producers of Spanish Sherry. Given the age of the rum inside, the flavors are rich and made for sipping neat or over a large rock, but also have their place in spirit-forward cocktails.

Learn more here.

14. Spicy Mangonada

Calls For:
2 oz Captain Morgan Sweet Chili Lime
4 oz Frozen Mango
0.5 oz Agave
0.5 oz Fresh Lime Juice
Chamoy sauce
Tajín® Rim

Preparation:
Combine Captain Morgan Sweet Chili Lime with the ingredients into a blender and blend! Dip the rim of the empty glass in chamoy and sprinkle Tajín® generously to coat it. Pour in your blended mangonada cocktail into the glass and serve!

15. The Kraken

The Kraken is one of the dozens of spiced rums on the market and is perfect for mixing up inventive cocktails. The brand is featuring a new cocktail kit to coincide with the release of Hulu/FX’s new series Alien: Earth from creator Noah Hawley. The Containment Cocktail Kit can be purchased via Cocktail Courier.

Learn more about the kit here.