Despite being incredibly beloved and successful these days, spiced rums have been mostly neglected by the public until the mid-eighties, when major brands like Captain Morgan and Bacardi managed to create mass-market products of global appeal. Their increasing demand on the global market has brought distilleries to present more and more spiced rums every day. Even some established producers of aged rums like Foursquare, Shipwreck, Botran, and Cruzan started to experiment with spiced variations presenting higher-end bottlings, thus transforming what once was a niche product into a fundamental bottle of any rum core range.
Simply put, spiced rums are blended rums flavored, via infusion or maceration, with a selection of herbs, fruits, and spices. The distilling standards set a minimum of 2% of added flavors, and the best products use only natural flavorings. Among the most common spices, one can find clove, cinnamon, vanilla, anise, citrus fruits, nutmeg, cardamom, allspice, ginger, and all sorts of peppers, but also caramel, various roots, and fruits like banana, coconut, cocoa, berries, mango, and other tropical plants. If dark rums, they can be barrel aged in a variety of casks to offer more structure and wood spices, but in general, they tend to be young spirits for easy consumption. Some countries mandate that spiced rums must be bottled at over 37,5% ABV (75 proof), but other distilling traditions set it to a lower standard, like 35% ABV (70 proof). In general, these rums have a sweet, soft, flavorful, and easy drinkable profile, great to enjoy chilled or in cold and warm cocktail preparations. Classic serving ideas for spiced rums use sodas like coke, tonic water, iced tea, cold brew coffee, cider, and fruit juices, but they really shine when skillfully mixed by a professional bartender.
If you were curious to experiment with spiced rums, you could not choose a better moment!
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