Entertaining

The 7 Best Rum Drinks to Sip All Summer

You might be more familiar with the resort-y Mai Tai that shows up at many Hawaiian beach bars, but this is the original version, made with both dark Jamaican rum and rhum agricole. It’s one of the OG tiki cocktails, probably brought into the world by the very first tiki bartender, Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt, aka Donn the Beachcomber. 

The Mojito is one of the most popular drinks in the world, appearing on countless bar menus no matter where you are. And there’s a good reason for that: It. Is. Refreshing. The bubbly mix of rum, simple syrup, mint, lime and club soda is just sweet enough that you could drink half a dozen before you even realize what’s happening.

If you’ve never swizzled, you have to try. There’s a whole genre of drinks mixed with a swizzle stick, but if you want that beachy vacation vibe that we all crave during the summer months, you need this cocktail made with rum and falernum.

This is a whole pineapple full of drink. Need we say more? OK, fine, we will. This complex mix of rum, gin, walnut liqueur and juices is the sort of impressive frozen tiki drink that will prove to anyone that you know exactly what you’re doing behind the bar.

If you aren’t quite ready to tackle La Pina Loca yet, you can still get your frozen drink fix with a Strawberry Daiquiri. Our version is worlds away from the syrupy things you might find on cruise ships or in chain restaurants. It gets all its sweetness from fresh strawberries blended with rum and lime.

The Blue Hawaii is a showy drink to be sure. It fell out of favor for several decades as people decided blue curaçao was not something they wanted in their cocktails, but it’s back. The era of neon drinks has returned thanks to some bold bartenders who are giving new life to cocktails like the Blue Hawaii and the Midori Sour.

The national drink of Puerto Rico is a little heavier than a lot of summer cocktails thanks to the addition of we-aren’t-going-to-look-at-the-nutrition-label Coco Lopez (cream of coconut). But no summer would be complete without at least one Piña Colada, and an obligatory playing of Rupert Holmes.