Straight or Swizzled: Rum Tasting Notes

Although rum is produced in every country that grows sugarcane, the best cane spirits come from rum's birthplace, the Caribbean. Just a few years ago, almost all Caribbean rum exported to the U.S. was used for mixing in cocktails and punches; the idea of rum as a sipping spirit was almost completely foreign to Americans. Now the tide has turned, and connoisseurs of scotch, bourbon, and tequila are shifting their attentions to rum. Rum's incredible diversity provides a spectrum of flavor profiles to explore, both in the aged sipping and the younger mixing categories. Here are my picks for both.