Our quest for the world’s cheapest drinks takes us to sunnier climes this week.
© Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay | Rum’s Caribbean roots are never far from what’s in the bottle.
Few spirits in the world can claim to have the same feel-good factor as rum.
Picking up a glass of rum, whether in a cocktail, mixed drink or just plain, is one of life’s great joys and there’s no mystery as to why.
First, it tastes great. No other drink can whisk you away to a more beautiful place so effortlessly. The taste of rum is the taste of freedom, of foreign vacations and of sand between your toes. Its Caribbean origins accompany it everywhere, so it’s no wonder it’s so popular.
But it’s not just the taste that makes rum a hit – it’s also one of the most versatile beverages ever bottled. Rum cocktails have done a lot of the heavy lifting in the cocktail renaissance of the past two decades, from the simple dark and boisterous cocktail to the classic mai tai and pina colada to the big Tiki favorite zombie, rum pretty much covers all the bases.
And rum cocktails don’t have to be complicated; Known as lo mismo (‘the same’ in Spanish), the Cuban classic is one of the most refreshing long drinks ever poured into a glass and is made entirely of white rum, topped with lemonade, ice and a squeeze of lime. Why people insist on complicating it by adding sugar syrup and mint and calling it a mojito remains a mystery.
The third great thing about rum, of course, is what we want to talk about here: value.
Yes, you can spend an inordinate amount of money on fancy rums. The most expensive rum listed in our database is the Dictador Generations en Lalique from Colombia, fetching you more than $16,000 at the world average price; That’s almost four Peter for you wine lovers.
That said, there are whiskeys (and whiskeys) where the price looks like a rounding error, but the thing is: you don’t have to spend that much to get really, really good rum, as you can see from our top 10 cheapest rums .
We’ve handpicked these rums, using a fairly straightforward point-to-dollar ratio for a simplified ‘bang-for-buck’ scale. We divide the score by the price, which gives a value factor. The higher the value factor, the more points per dollar. As usual, it’s not just about being cheap – every rum on the list has a minimum aggregate score of 92.
Rums with the best value for money on Wine-Searcher:
Rumname Value Factor Plantation Original, Trinidad 4.95 Plantation 3 Stars, Caribbean 4.60 Plantation Isle of Fiji, Fiji 3.13 Appleton Estate Reserve, Jamaica 2.94 Bacardi Gran Reserva Diez 10 Year Old, Puerto Rico 2.29 Punta Cana Club Tesoro, Dominican Republic 2.13 Appleton Estate 12 Annual, Jamaica 2.04 Santa Teresa 1796 Ron Antiguo de Solera, Venezuela 1.98 Havana Club Seleccion de Maestros, Cuba 1.75 Kirk and Sweeney 23 years Gran Reserva, Dominican Republic 1, 73
At first glance, this is pretty good value for money, but when you take a closer look it shows just how good it is.
The top rum has an aggregate critic rating of 94 and a worldwide average retail price of just $19 – you can actually buy a 1.75L bottle for less than $30 if you live in the US, eh given the rating is crazy .
The Plantation rums did well on this list, occupying the top three spots, and their value for money is clearly good. The 3-star rum has an overall rating of 92 and an average price of $20, while the Fiji rum has a rating of 94 and an average price of $30.
Appleton, the brilliant Jamaican maker, managed to add two rums to the list, with the Reserve earning a 94 rating (at a global average price of $32), while the 12-year-old received a 92 rating, which equates to a price of $45.
Bacardi’s Gran Reserva, at a slightly higher total price of $41, also has an overall score of 94 points, while Santa Teresa and Havana Club each have 93 points and world average prices of $47 and $53, respectively.
Then we actually get into a rarefied space; Kirk & Sweeney’s rum might be in 10th place, but that’s because of its relatively high worldwide average retail price of $55 – it has an overall rating of 95. Punta Cana goes one step better: the rating is 96 points worldwide for an average of $45 per bottle.
That’s what we call a feel-good factor.
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