Rum Top Shelf Spirits

Rum essences

An essence turns a neutral base spirit into a finished, recognisable drink. The base does the alcohol, the essence does the flavour, and rum is one of the styles where that works best, because rum character comes from molasses and barrel rather than from the grain underneath it.

These are all Still Spirits Top Shelf, which is the range most Australian home distillers know by name.

Which rum

• White Rum. Clean and light. The mixing rum, and the base for anything with lime in it.
• Aussie Gold Rum. The Queensland style, sweeter and rounder. Also available as a 10 and 24 pack, which tells you how it sells.
• Aussie Red Rum. Darker and heavier than the gold.
• Dark Rum. Molasses forward, for sipping and for cooking.
• Jamaican Dark and Jamaican Gold. The funkier, more pungent Caribbean end. Distinctive, and not the place to start if you are unsure.
• Spiced Rum and Dark Spiced Rum. Vanilla and warm spice over the top. The most popular style in Australia by a wide margin, and the safest gift.

Single bottles or a mixed pack

Single bottles make sense while you are working out what you like. The mixed Any Mix packs in 10, 24 and 36 work out better per bottle and let you choose the combination, so they suit someone who already knows they will keep making spirits. There are also single-flavour 10 packs of Aussie Gold, Spiced and Jamaican Dark for anyone who has settled on one.

The 6 pack of 700ml craft spirit bottles with cork tops is worth adding if any of this is going to be given away. A finished rum in a proper bottle with a cork is a different gift to one in a repurposed screw top.

Ships Australia-wide from our Melbourne store. If you are choosing between the spiced and the dark, or working out how many bottles a pack size actually gets you, ask us.