In darker times, you knew exactly what to expect from a spiced rum cocktail: intensely sweet fruit or coconut flavors, a Hurricane glass thick with blended booze, and the skull-crushing hangover to go along with it all. But spiced rum isn't that same toxic syrup anymore, and bartenders aren't just pouring it in the blender. There's no telling what sort of cocktail you'll get these days, but you can bet it'll make your head spin—not from a hangover but joyful shock. Here are just five new ways to mix with spiced rum.
You can simply swap the grainy spice of rye for the caramelized spice of rum in a Sazerac, but then you’ve got to find absinthe and bitters that can stand up to the new base. Lucky for us, Doc Herson’s Red Absinthe and Bittercube Trinity Bitters are just the duo for the job. Together they bring enough layers of wormwood, hibiscus, cherry bark and orange to take the thick rum and go shot for shot on spice. Stand back and let them battle for the approval of your tastebuds.
The Essentials
Spiced Rum
Absinthe
Bittercube Trinity Bitters
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Spiced rum is a quick way to perk up a sleepy Daiquiri. The richer, heavier flavors of spiced rum would sink a cocktail served up, but they align perfectly with fruity mix-ins in a blended version of the classic. Rhum agricole-based coconut liqueur further complements the star rum.
The Essentials
spiced rum
lime juice
Frozen Strawberries
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Eggnog and its Puerto Rican relative may appear similar in pitchers, but one taste will soon make clear the island version’s spice. While brewing the American classic requires thickening with cream, eggs and milk, Coquito swaddles holiday souls with evaporated milk, coconut milk and Coco Lopez. A split base of spiced and dark rums peeks out from beneath these tropical thickeners, melting even the bitterest of winter chills.
The Essentials
evaporated milk
coconut milk
Dark Rum
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Give your daily cup of coffee two times the pep with spiced rum in this tiki take on breakfast. Spiced rum’s sweet molasses flavors and smooth orgeat meld with cold brew to provide a solid foundation for the rum’s zesty spirit. It’s a simple three-ingredient drink that’s perfect for the caffeine deficient drinker in need of some quick energy.
The Essentials
spiced rum
cold brew coffee
orgeat
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It’s hard to improve on a classic Mai Tai, with its dark and funky rum mix, its pleasing citrus from lime, its hint of orange from curaçao and its iconic crushed ice. It’s hard, but not impossible. This variation switches out funky rhum agricole for the highly fermented, almost horseradish-like flavor of Batavia Arrack, adds doubly nutty velvet falernum to the standard orgeat, and ups the booze with overproof rum. The pièce de résistance is a float of spiced rum, which blankets the cocktail like a potent, tiki-rific drip cake.
The Essentials
Rum
Orgeat
Falernum
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