Rethinking “White Rum”

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to talk about this thing called “white rum.” Many abominations and misunderstandings have been committed in its name.

To start with, no rum is really white.

Clear? Sure.
Silver? If you must.

But honestly, that’s not the real issue here. It’s forgivable, and we can move past it. The real affront is that a white rum category even exists. It’s lazy, reductionist, and unhelpful.

Categorizing a rum by its color (or lack thereof) dismisses the rum’s far more important attributes; first and foremost, flavor. Consider this hypothetical exchange:

“Sir, what type of cheese would you like on your hamburger?”
“Light yellow, please.”

The resulting burger could be served with Swiss, cheddar, or gruyere—all quite different, thank you. Yet when it comes to rum, “white” is a common category, designated in countless recipes and menu listings.

It shouldn’t be.

Rum Fire, Rhum Clement Blanc, Bacardi Superior, and Probitas meet the “white rum” criteria simply by virtue of their colorlessness. But those with firsthand experience with all four rums know how different they are, and that they’re certainly not generally interchangeable in cocktail recipes.

Even if enthusiasts know how to differentiate the rums above, picture the casual consumer in a liquor store looking for a “white rum” to make a cocktail recipe they saw in USA Today. Devoid of any special expertise, they could depart the liquor store with Rum Fire, a high octane Jamaican overproof which the recipe’s author almost assuredly wasn’t intending.

White Rum Cocktails

When it comes to trying out a rum in a cocktail, the daiquiri is the time-tested standard. A true, classic daiquiri uses a rum consistent with the style of rums made where it originated—we’ll get to that below.

Sure, you can make a fab daiquiri with Jamaican rum or a blended rum from several islands, but you’re intentionally departing from the original daiquiri in a noticeable way. Think of it as using potato chips instead of corn chips in your nachos. It may taste great, but you wouldn’t call them “classic nachos.”

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Yes, “white rum” is well ingrained in popular culture, and perhaps I’m tilting at windmills. But if we want to help rum world newcomers understand the wide diversity of clear rums, we must lead by using more terminology for these rums.

Heck, most people think that “white rums” aren’t aged, which is most assuredly not true. Far more clear rums are aged than not. We’ll get to that below as well.

Of course, not everyone is well-versed enough to know the difference between the multitude of clear rums on the market. In the spirit of proposing solutions, I’ve created natural groupings from the set of widely available clear rums based on flavor profile and how they’re made.

The five categories below cover the vast majority of clear rums. I’ve chosen not to muddy the waters by including the truly unique and unusual rums that are rarely found outside of highly specialized retail environments. I’ve provided many examples of each category, but the examples are far from exhaustive.

Finally, no classification is without its flaws, and if we were enjoying a glass of rum together, I’d happily point out some loose ends.

White Rum Brands List

Aged and Filtered

Rums that have been aged for a few years, then carbon filtered to remove the color. The majority of these rums are from countries or regions with Spanish heritage, e.g., Cuba, Puerto Rico, Panama, Nicaragua, Venezuela, etc. Most of them are entirely distilled on column stills.

By volume, Aged & Filtered is by far the dominant category. Consider that all Puerto Rican and Cuban labeled rum must be aged. Thus, any clear rums from Bacardi, Serrallés (Don Q), and Havana Club belong in this category. They’re three of the biggest rum producers on the planet.

Incidentally, this style of rum is what the original Cuban daiquiri was made with. Nowadays, multi-island blends are all the rage in daiquiris, but the original Cuban masters weren’t using Jamaican-tinged rums in their shakers. It should be noted that there are a few Aged and Filtered Jamaican rums. Their flavor profile veers far away from rums made in Spanish heritage regions. You may wish to split them into their own category.

Brand	Expression	Country/Region
Angostura	Reserva	Trinidad
Angostura	White Oak	Trinidad
Bacardi	Superior	Puerto Rico
Barbancourt	White	Haiti
Barcelo	Gran Platinum	Dominican Republic
Blue Chair Bay	White	Barbados
Botran	Reserva Blanca	Guatemala
Bountry	Premium White	Saint Lucia
Brugal	Blanco Supremo	Dominican Republic
Captain Morgan	White	St. Croix
Cartavio	Silver	Peru
Castillo	Silver	Puerto Rico
Chairman's Reserve	White	St. Lucia
Clarke's Court	Superior Light	Grenada
Cruzan	Aged	St. Croix
Cubay	3	Cuba
Dictador	Claro	Colombia
Diplomatico	Planas	Venezuela
Don Q	Cristal	Puerto Rico
Doorly's	3	Barbados
El Dorado	3	Guyana
Facundo	NEO	Puerto Rico
Flor de Caña	4 Extra Seco	Nicaragua
Havana Club	3	Cuba
Havana Club	Anejo Blanco	Puerto Rico
Kingston 62	White	Jamaica
Ledgendario	Anejo Blanco	Cuba
Montanya	Plantino	USA
Monymusk	Platinum	Jamaica
Myers's	Platinum White	Jamaica
Pampero	Blanco	Venezuela
Panama-Pacific	3	Panama
Real McCoy	3	Barbados
Rum Sixty Six	Whte	Barbados
Santa Teresa	Claro	Venezuela
SelvaRey	White	Panama
Tanduay	Silver	Philippines

Multi-Country Blends

A clear rum blended from rums made in several countries. Jamaican rum is a common but not required element in these blends. These rums may also be blended from both aged and unaged rums.

Brand	Expression
Banks	5 Island
Denizen	Aged White
Foursquare	Probitas
Foursquare	Veritas
Hamilton	White 'Stache
Plantation	Three Stars
Ten to One	Caribbean White Rum
Tiki Lovers	White
William George	White

Unaged Cane Juice

These are clear rums made entirely from cane juice and have not undergone aging in wooden casks. If you wish to split out rhum agricole, cacacha and clairin into their own categories, go for it.

Brand	Expression	Country
Paranubes		Mexico
[Clairin - most brands]		Haiti
[Rhum Agricole - All brands]	Blanc (or similar)	Martinique
[Rhum Agricole - all brands]	Blanc (or similar)	Guadeloupe
[Cachaça - all brands]		Brazil

Unaged Jamaican Overproof

While overproof is itself problematic, the set of unaged Jamaican rums bottled around 63 percent ABV are similar enough to each other, and distinct enough from other rums, that none of them will be mistaken for another category here.

Brand	Expression
Rum Fire	White Overproof
Wray & Nephew	White Overproof
Monymusk	Overproof White
Rum-Bar	White Overproof

Unaged

If a clear rum has no aging, and doesn’t fit into any of the above categories, we can simply call it unaged rum. Many of the rums in these categories are from small “craft” distillers. It should be noted that you may find wide variations in flavor in this category—Privateer Silver tastes nothing like Rum-Bar Silver                                         

Brand	Expression	Country
Bayou	Silver	USA
Casa Magdalena	Blanco	Guatemala
Owney's	Original	USA
Privateer	Silver	USA
Rum-Bar	Silver	Jamaica

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Again, there are certainly clear rums that don’t fit neatly into any of the above categories. But the odds are that you won’t find many of them at your corner liquor store, nor is it likely that a recipe creator imagined their use when specifying “white rum”.

While I’ve made efforts to include as many mainstream rums as reasonable in the above lists, I may have missed some. Feel free to give me a shout about anything you feel strongly should be included. Do note that I intend to focus on rums in major markets like the US, and/or with international distribution.