Turns out, Paul Clarke beat me to the punch, with his Serious Eats post on How To Make Spiced Rum From Scratch. In the article, he notes the importance of selecting the right rum to infuse — he recommends “something with a good, aged richness to it,” (I agree) and recommends Appleton Estate Extra, Mount Gay Eclipse, or Matusalem Gran Reserva.
He also warns that vanilla can overpower some spiced rums — which seems to be the chief complaint about the current crop of spiced rums. Personally, I find those vanilla notes pleasing, but certainly it’s more interesting when the rum shows pops of cinnamon, allspice, or clove.
- 1 750ml bottle decent aged rum
- 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
- 3 whole cloves
- 1 cinnamon stick, broken into pieces
- 5 whole allspice berries
- 5 whole black peppercorns
- 1/2 piece star anise
- 1/8 tsp fresh-grated nutmeg
- 3 quarter-size pieces fresh ginger
- 2 3-inch strips fresh orange zest, white pith removed
Combine everything in a large jar and seal. Keep in a cool, dark place for a couple of days, shaking it once a day to distribute the ingredients. Start tasting it after 48 hours; adjust ingredients if necessary, and once you feel it’s done (probably no longer than 4 days altogether), strain and bottle.
In the past, I’ve also tried the following spiced rum recipe — it’s unorthodoxly fruity, intense, and loosely based on a house-made version that was served at the Waldorf-Astoria’s Peacock Alley bar a few years back, where the rum was shaken with Cointreau and raspberry puree.
- 1 750 ml bottle gold rum
- 1/2 Fuji apple, diced
- 5 pieces of fresh ginger, peeled and cut into coin-sized slices
- 1 dried fig
- 1 piece of orange peel
- 1 Tablespoon of black peppercorns, crushed
Add all the spices to the rum, close, and let steep 24 hours, or as long as one week. Strain out the fruit and spices and cover tightly. Use in your favorite rum-based cocktails.
Tipple Sheet 
While I have not made my own, the stuff one of the bars here in Boston made for a while smoked everything on the market. I mean, not even close. Papa Clarke’s recipe looks about similar to that bartender’s list of ingredients. If we drank more spiced rum, I would be making my own too!
Frederic, I think that means it’s time for you to create some new drinks that would call for spiced rum! and then you’ll have an excuse to make your own.
As I noted in the Serious Eats post, this recipe freely rips off one created by Martin Cate of Smuggler’s Cove — I made a couple of tweaks to my own taste (more orange, more ginger, addition of star anise) but otherwise it’s Martin’s base.
Thanks for the clarification, Paul. Credit where credit is due. 🙂