The August 2011 issue of Wine Enthusiast magazine is out, and it includes (among other things) my review column on Spiced Rum. You can pick up a copy at the newsstand, or view it in digital format on Zinio. Here’s what I learned:
1. Spiced rum has a bad reputation. It’s fun. It can be too sweet. You knew someone in college who tossed back too many Captain-and-Cokes. But that doesn’t stop many from taking spiced rum very seriously. Maybe too seriously.
2. Dry vs. sweet spiced rums. I didn’t realize there were different styles until I started tasting. But it’s a rather pronounced difference, and the “dry style” spiced rums were particularly nuanced and delicious.
3. Spiced rum is made with actual spices. Not just flavorings. Vanilla is perhaps the most commonly found spice. However, cocktail geeks mostly disapprove of “vanilla-forward” rums. Taste thoughtfully, and you may detect spices like clove, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Ginger and black pepper also may appear. One particularly spicy Cajun brand also used cayenne pepper.
4. Spiced rum is not part of the classic cocktail canon. Old school tiki bars would make their own. Some newfangled tiki lounges still do. (I’m lookin’ at you, Martin Cate!)
5. How to use spiced rum in cocktails. Tiki driks. Hot drinks like spiced cider. The Cable Car is a new classic. In other words, spiced rum is more versatile than I had thought. Check out some drink recipes here.
If you have a favorite spiced rum or cocktail made with spiced rum, I’d love to hear about it!
Tipple Sheet 
The best spiced rum I ever enjoyed was made by Marguerette Hazell in Saba- which is an island downstream from the British Virgin Islands. I still have a bottle. Alive with roots and seeds, nuts and stone fruit pits. It stands in my liquor closet alongside bottles of Bourbon from the 1950’s. Tastes come infrequently, I’m loathe to top it off with another rhum. This is handmade stuff with a handrawn lable. Marguerette is gone now, but her hand-made spiced rum lives on.
Nice article Kara. wb
You take some spiced rum and mix it with dr.pepper, it’s what a group of friends of mine likes to call “christmas”
If I can remember correctly, that is…
Thanks for the idea! Certainly sounds like a step up from the standard spiced rum & Coke mixer.
I drink it with a slice of lemon & some mint leaves on the rock.
Perfect drink for a hot summer night. Feel like u r in the carribean.
Sounds good to me – and I bet the glass looks perfectly tropical all dressed up with mint and lemon.