Hey all, I'm a big rum drinker (in that it's my go to for a post work drink or three). However, I wont pretend that I've experimented with too many different rums. I typically keep a bottle of appleton 12 around or diplomatico for a (slightly) cheaper option.

I'm having a wedding soon and my fiance and I are doing his and hers cocktails. We thought it'd be fitting, and funny, to put a rum punch on the menu, except the kicker is that it's just a glass of rum on the rocks. I was hoping to get some suggestions for affordable yet quality easy sippers. I'd love to have some cool stuff, and a lot of my guests work in hospitality, so I know they'd be willing to try something new too.

Thanks in advance, please don't roast me too hard for the diplomatico. I like what I like haha. Also, I'm not even remotely picky when it comes to alcohol - any suggestion would be very much appreciated. Cheers

If you could only choose one Jamaican Rum to have for the rest of your life what would it be ?

My longest rum journey
First let me introduce y’all to the haul.
I have here.
2 bottles of Raising Glasses x Nobilis – Papilio Hampden CH 6 Year
2 bottles of Dunder Pressure rum et al. Queen’s Share from the queen, Dr. Robyn Smith
1 bottle of Foursquare Exceptional Cask Selection Mark XXI – 2010
1 bottle of Down Island – Jamaica – Hampden Estate – 3 yo
This is courtesy of the most magical store; for anything, you can go for Norfolk Wine and Spirits.

The story, if you are interested.
I live in NYC, and Norfolk Wine and Spirits is located in Norfolk, Massachusetts. I called and asked about the Raising Glasses x Nobilis – Papilio Hampden CH 6 Year, and they said they had it in stock. I purchased it without hesitation, not knowing how to get to Massachusetts. I started searching around and found a round-trip ticket with a bus, 4 hours going and 4 hours coming back. I was excited to plan my trip. Massachusetts is not like NYC, and I had to figure that out the hard way with their 2-hour-apart trains, which makes it almost impossible to do anything. I made it in time, taking the train, and then an Uber. When I went inside, it felt like a candy store. They had some of the most amazing and rare bottles of all spirits in there. I ran to the rum section, and the store clerk who I spoke to on the phone, Prakeet, came up, and we started chatting. He is very knowledgeable and can help you literally find anything. I already knew what I wanted, but having Prakeet just be chill was awesome. Now after the purchase I wrapped each bottle in a t-shirt, took that 2-hour-apart train ride back, and then the bus, and here I am home chilling looking at them. I was able to do this whole trip in one day from 5:15am to 11:20pm. Many of you will say you could’ve driven, but let me ask you this: Who wants to drive for 4 hours back and forth? I'm so tired I'm cracking these babies this Saturday. And that concludes my rum voyage.

I have both madagascar bourbon and tahitean vanilla and want to make 2 separate extracts. For the full bourbon vanilla aroma I think I want to go the rum Route.

I've seen people recommend Kirk&Sweeney but wanted to brainstorm a little more.

I'm specifically interested in how you think the Havana Especial would fit, I can get it for very cheap currently (10€). Also Diplomatico is available at a good price (20€) while K&S clocks in on 40-50€.

I thought asking here is Probably more insightful than asking in a vanilla forum, since the popular choices seem to be K&S or Appleton Sig.

Tasted semi-blind (I had organized the flight but my partner poured them in another room)

Savanna Agricole 7 yr 2002 cognac F111 (46%)
N: sweet cream and vanilla, sweet fruit (I can detect mango, peach, orange, even a malt-like apple, but none stand out strongly), the tiniest bit of rubber or diesel. That last evolves (briefly) into a smoky burned brett sort of thing which was an off flavor when it turned up in my wild ale homebrews, but isn’t off in this context
P: ah, sugarcane, in an aggressive way that wasn’t not at all suggested by the nose. Cane syrup without the sweetness almost. All that fruit from the nose is greatly diminished in the mouth but we do get some apricot tea, some concrete minerality, autumn in the city. And the lovely cane juice is all over the finish
85

Ferroni Collection Signature Luc Litschgi Ile Maurice (45%)
N: a much drier and darker wood, if the Savanna was malt-adjacent this is decidedly bourbon-adjacent. Unlit firewood and old books, little fruit to be found. With air less one dimensional with some soggy leaves and even petrichor
P: leans even more into that soggy leaf pile, petrichor, wet asphalt character. Still an affinity with dry, woody old bourbon. Old Dickel, specifically. I like the finish, which is quite mineral, though only medium-long. Still getting zero fruit here. It’s one dimensional, but not bad for all that
82

Belle Vue 2005 New Grove Ile Maurice (45%)
N: a malt, a bourbon, and finally a rum…or maybe just a fruity first fill sherry malt. (Actually, make that a sherried bourbon, because this is more IGP or Dickel than barley—anyone remember those Belle Meade wine treatments?) But seriously, here we have some signs of tropical aging in both wood and fruit, and some very tame industrial esters.
P: some caramel, some woody tea tannins, quite a bit of apricot along with some red-purple berry. 
82

Was thinking about getting a couple bottles but mostly looking at: Worthy Park Select or Single Estate Reserve, El Dorado single barrel blend, that single cask TCRL Guyana, ECS Isonomy and the Flag Series Guyana (I hear it’s not the best tasting but it’s also a old vintage Guyana…)

Haven’t seen or heard much about the rhumb runner but I know Fernandes is kind of hard to find, whil rivers and l’esprit I’m not sure how often I’d actually be drinking those. Planteray ehhhh but it’s a store pick and the pussers 15 was first time seeing one in the wild…