The Most Collected Rums From Last Week

The first-ever white rum from Plantation is named for three rum-producing “stars” of the Caribbean: Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad. The blend features unaged rums from Barbados and Jamaica, a 3-year-old rum from Trinidad and a 12-year Jamaican rum. Each rum brings their respective island’s distinctive flavors and characteristics to the blend, from the lighter, refined Trinidadian rum to the funkier, full-bodied Jamaican rums. Any color from the aging process has been removed via carbon filtration before bottling.

The Extra Old was released to mark Alexandre Gabriel’s 20th anniversary at the helm of Cognac Ferrand. The Extra Old showcases Plantation’s oldest Bajan rum reserves, aged for 12-20 years in bourbon casks. The selected rums are blended at Château de Bonbonnet in France and finished in small French oak casks for 12-18 months.

Barbancourt 5 Star spends 8 years in French Limousin oak casks. As with the entire Barbancourt lineup, it's made from sugarcane juice and double distilled. Bottled at 86 proof.

During Prohibition, there was a wooden schooner known for smuggling rum from the Caribbean to the U.S; its name was Kirk & Sweeney and was finally seized in 1924 by the Coast Guard with its cargo full of rum. Kirk & Sweeney rum is produced at the Bermúdez Distillery in the Dominican Republic, a family-owned and operated distillery since 1857. The rum is aged for 12 years in new, lightly-charred, American oak.

Papa's Pilar Dark Rum uses sugarcane grown in Florida, Central America and the Caribbean. After being both pot- and column-stilled, it is then Solera-aged in bourbon barrels and port wine casks and then blended together. It is then finished in Spanish sherry casks. The number 24 on the label is not an age-statement, but rather an indication of the age of the solera (which is to say that part of the rum is aged up to 24 years, but not all).

Ron Zacapa 23 Sistema Solera Rum was first produced in 1976 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Guatemalan town of Zacapa. It's a rum made from raw sugarcane honey grown on the Zacapa estate high in the hills of Guatemala, extracted from the first pressing of sugarcane juice. It is then fermented using a proprietary strain of pineapple yeast and distilled in a copper-lined column still. After distillation, the rum is aged in a Solera process from a series of casks which once held bourbon, oloroso sherry and Pedro Ximenez sherry. The rums in the blend vary between 6 and 23 years of age.

Malibu Original coconut flavored rum was designed as an all-in-one cocktail, a low-proof liqueur rather than a full proof rum for safe consumption in warm-weather party settings. It was later embraced by a generation of bartenders who used it in Piña Coladas and other tropical cocktails. The flavor is derived from coconut extract.

Cuban rum distillers or “maestros” have been drinking their own extra-aged rums for years, but this release marks the beginning of this style of rum to the general public. At its core is Cuban sugarcane turned into molasses or "mieles." The entire production process for this rum takes at least 14 years, with the youngest drops having aged a minimum of 7 years. This is achieved by aging individual barrels instead of using the more popular solera method. Note: This is not currently available in the U.S.

Plantation Barbados 5 Year Rum is a blend of pot still and column still Bajan rums that are aged in bourbon casks for 3-4 years in the Caribbean. The blend is then finished in French oak casks at Maison Ferrand’s Château de Bonbonnet in the heart of the Grande Champagne district for 1-2 years more. Note: Formerly called Plantation Grande Reserve 5 Year.

This is the Venezuelan distillery’s flagship rum, called “exclusiva” as a tribute to their 18th century founder Don Juancho Nieto Meléndez, who was always in search of exclusive flavors for his rums. It’s a blend of 12 year old copper pot-still rums made from both molasses and sugarcane honey, aged in ex-bourbon barrels.