rum old fashioned

This rum old fashioned uses a buttery smooth dark rum and brown sugar in a simple twist on the classic cocktail. It’s simple, yet packed with roasted, caramelized flavors. Use a great rum and this just might be your new favorite drink!

We’ve grown into big rum fans over the last few years. This is mostly from-- surprise-- sourcing better rums! Gone are the days of “rum” being synonymous with Bacardi. The world of artisanal rum is vast and incredibly flavorful. A great rum is smooth, richly flavored, soft and completely affordable. 

If clear or “silver”, the rum can add sweet tropical fruit flavors, accented with warm vanilla and spice. If the rum is made from fermented sugarcane juice, rather than molasses, the flavors can have grassy, green banana notes that are just so good in mojitos. 

But here, we’re going dark and rich. 

Aged rums are filled with captivating aromas of burnt sugar, chocolate, coffee, liquorice, tobacco, toffee. The good ones are so smooth and rounded, the texture is almost creamy. They’re begging to be served neat, on the rocks, or in a very simple spirit-forward cocktail like the old fashioned. 

A spritz of fragrant orange oils, a little roasty sweetness of brown sugar, and a few dashes of bitters freshens up the aged rum and transforms it into a rum cocktail everyone will love. With a quality spirit, the rum old fashioned is absolutely delicious. The rum brings warm, rich flavors that evolve as you sip-- so invest in a good one and this rum old fashioned will convert your friends and family into rum-lovers too!

what you need for a rum old fashioned:

• dark rum
• brown sugar
• Angostura bitters
• orange bitters
• orange peel
• large ice cube

what is a rum old fashioned?

Classic old fashioned cocktails are made with whiskey, a sugar cube doused in a few dashes of Angostura bitters and a squeeze of orange zest. From this standard format, you can add a ton of fun flavor variations.

Our rum old fashioned recipe uses dark rum in place of whiskey, for added flavors of candied fruit, burnt sugar, coffee and even smoke. Then we substitute brown sugar for the sugar cube to enhance the roasty flavors, and we bump up the spice and citrus with both Angostura and orange bitters. The rum old fashioned is a complex and delightfully aromatic twist on the classic old fashioned.

Check out our maple old fashioned and applejack old fashioned for even more fun old fashioned cocktails!

what rum is best for an old fashioned?

We love dark rums in this rum old fashioned recipe. The flavors are rich, caramelized and complex and the texture (of a good one) is rounded and silky. But the key is it should be a good dark rum! It doesn’t have to be insanely expensive, either. Just a quality rum, which you can find by asking your local liquor or wine shop for recommendations, searching around online for reviews, or just buying a few around the $50 price range and testing them out! 

To get you started, here are a few of our favorite aged rums:

• Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva
• Mount Gay XO Extra Old
• El Dorado Special Reserve
• Plantation 20th Anniversary Rum
• Ron Zacapa 23 Centenario Rum

more rum cocktails to try!

jungle bird cocktail

coconut basil mojito

coconut milk rum julep with fresh mint

pineapple rum fizz with rosemary and lime

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