There is a cheap light coconut rum that I get exclusively to make daquiris with.

I have other random rum to bake other things with, but I don't have a favorite there.

Got hooked on Goslings Black Seal in Bermuda.

I am a huge fan of Jamaican rums, particularly Appleton and Wray & Nephew.

For casual cocktails & parties, I'll save a few bucks & go with Appleton in the tall, skinny bottles, usually the Appleton Gold.

For top shelf mixers, I prefer any of the Appletons that come in the pear shaped bottles. So very smooth...

Finally, for very special occasions, I'll procure a bottle of Wray & Nephew. It's an overproof rum (at least 120+ proof) so it should be used sparingly anyway.

Brugal from the Dominican....otherwise Sailor Jerry!

After a recent Honeymoon in Antigua, I fell in love with English Harbour Rum but it's so hard to find stateside. So for plain no-frills rum my vote goes to Bacardi but for certain mixed drinks, I love Cruzan Mango Rum.

My mom is from Guyana, which (like many countries in the Caribbean) produces a lot of rum. I'm partial to El Dorado. They have a 15 year special reserve which is really smooth.

We keep Mount Gay in our house, mainly because that's what my dad drinks and it seems to taste fine.

You know what, I like Sailor Jerry. Might not be the classiest rum, but it's tasty and makes a daiquiri that'll knock your socks off.

In Iowa, we've got a local winery/distillery called Cedar Ridge, and they've got the most fantastic dark sipping rum I've ever tasted. They age it in Templeton Rye casks, so it's dark from those rather than from fakey "spices". It's delicious.

My husband is a Mount Gay/club soda/2 limes fan for everyday; but loves Habana Club and some stuff you can only get in non-embargo countries whenever possible... I love Sailor Jerry myself - great with fresh-squeezed pink grapefruit juice; or Gosling's for a Dark & Stormy.

I agree about Appleton (Appleton Gold is fantastic). If you can find Coruba, it's a cheap and delicious Jamaican rum that is a great all-around worker; it'll taste great in a lot of things. Bacardi 8-year is actually pretty good as a mixer, though I wouldn't touch any other Bacardi.

For a white rum, Cruzan is plentiful and good, but El Dorado 3 year is nicer. Orinoco is great but over-priced.

If you want to drink it straight, get the most aged rum you can. It's as good as Scotch if you get the good stuff, like Smith & Cross or Zacapa.

My favourites are Demera's El Dorado Superior Dark and 12 years rum, from Guyana.

Favorite light rum: Don Q.
Favorite dark rum: Barbancourt 15 Years.
Favorite grow-hair-on-your-chest rum: El Barrilito 5 Star.
Favorite new find rum, though: Matusalem 7 Years! I had it for the first time a few months ago. Absolutely delicious!

For drinking- Mount Gay rum. For cooking/baking- Myer's Dark rum. For daiquiris and mixed drinks and things I usually get any kind of Malibu or Cruzan (cheap and taste ok)

while we normally drink good dark rum (Black Seal and Black Strap), Kraken is a fabulous spicy-tasting dark rum. the label's fantastic, too.

can't stand Sailor Jerry. it disappears when mixed, and if i'm drinking rum, i want to taste RUM, not whatever else i've mixed with it.

Cockspur 12 is a delicious sipping rum from Barbados. Highly recommended.

coconut rum, although the only thing I know how to make is a pina colada /sigh

mt gay for mojitos, goslings for dark and stormies.

Mount Gay and Sailor Jerry

I'm not a rum person, really. I have two uses for rum and associated brands for them. Goslings for Dark and Stormies and Sailor Jerry for mixing with ginger ale.

I'm not so much a rum drinker, but my boyfriend LOVES Old Monk. When mixed with cola, it tastes like a caramel coke!

10 Cane for drinking, Myers white for infusing, Myers dark for rum & Cokes.

Zacapa! The world stopped for a moment when I first tasted it. Dark, rich, and complex in the way that the best bittersweet chocolate is. Do not mix it with anything.

Oh yes, Kraken! Look for the black and white OCTOPUS label. Beautiful and yummy.

Captain Morgan for me. Captain & diet is my go to drink - hard to mess up and available at most parties/bars.
I started off drinking Captain and ginger ale, which, when made right, tastes a bit like cream soda. :)

Barrilito ("Ron del Barrilito") is a brand well-known in Puerto Rico and I'm a huge fan! The 3star version is bang'n!. A beautiful golden color w/a hint of smokiness that is incredibly smooth.

*HIGHLY* recommended although I'm Puerto Rican, but very objective with taste. :)

Don Q from Puerto Rico!

Mmmm Captian Morgan (with coke zero)... so tasty... :)

Flor de Caña Ron from Nicaragua. It can be a bit hard to find here, but all varieties (5-yr, 7-yr, 12-yr) are fantastic. It has the most amazing distinct smell, and tastes great on its own or mixed!

my go-to is bacardi select, but i've also gotten into the kraken and seven tiki, which are both spiced rums and really wonderfully smooth.

Bacardi or Meyers for mixed drinks. Zaya (Trinidad, formerly Guatemala) for sipping either on the rocks or neat.

Goslings! But I am a sailor, so I'm probably biased.

Probably because I'm a poor grad student, but I do love Sailor Jerry's--there's something about the cherry hint that makes a killer rum and coke.

Question though--not to through the discussion off topic, but where would cachaca fall in this great debate? It's a rum...kind of... Because if it does qualify, Jerry goes out the window for LeBlon and a mean caipirinha! :)

and by through, I mean throw. Sorry for the mistake!

Barbancourt, well aged, if price is not a problem. Most of the time it's good old Sailor Jerry. So much better then your average Capt Morgan. I'm not a big clear rum drinker, but if my friends always have Cruzan on hand. But when it's time for Rum, these are the first two that come to mind.

I frequently release the Kraken. And recently Don Q has been the rum on sale at my Publix liquor store, so I've been going with that.

depaz, a rhum agricole from martinique. a little hard to find, and a little spendy for rum, but sooooo good.

Even (Captain) Morgan prefers Goslings Black Seal, but Captain Me is fine in a pinch.

Mount Gay and the Captain, of course.

Jamaican Wray & Nephew all the way. I was raised on it. It goes into my tea, my trifles, and is yum sprinkled on ice cream. It's not for the faint hearted though..

saer
http://www.cravenmaven.com

malibu + coke = coconut coke! yum! and for pina coladas ... mmm

Appleton Estate 12-Year on its own, Appleton Estate V/X for mixing, Kraken for spiced. 10 Cane is wonderful on its own, but I'm a big fan of of the Mount Gay Eclipse Silver for mixing.

I'm certainly not picky when it comes to rum. When we go camping, Captain and warm apple cider is awesome. It's perfect for playing cards or just hanging out around the campfire. Full disclosure, though... in college I used to drink 151 and Gatorade after my rugby games. I don't enjoy beer, so I'd bring this along, and it would definitely do the trick. Now? I think it's disgusting. Ha!

Barbancourt 15, I get it dirt cheap when I go to Haiti.

Jamaican rums are a bargain statesside, and are EXCELLENT, particularly Appleton Estate. My pantry is not complete unless i have at least 3 versions on hand, AE 12 yr (for special people/occassions), AE White for mojitos, and AE V/X for everyday mixing. Can't go wrong with booze from JA.

On a related note, there's a brand of run cream called Sangster's Original Rum Cream. BELIEVE me it is one of (if not THE) best cream liqueurs out there. But i've never found it here. Only in JA. But my husband LOVES it.

Captain Morgan Private Stock on the rocks or with coke. Looking for a new favorite for mojitos.....

The first bottle in the picture is Castillo Silver. It's really really cheap and mixes well, so that's what I usually reach for.

The best rum I ever tasted was brought straight to the US by a friend from St. Croix.

It was especially good when left to sit in a bottle with bark and spices, he called it Mama Juana. I'm not sure that he used the orthodox recipe from the Dominican Republic by adding wine and honey, but whatever he did it tasted amazing.

I used to like Sailor Jerrys but they changed the recipe in the UK and the new version is kinda horrid! We tend to have Mount Gay if we are having rum/mojito's.

I recently went to a rum pub in cambridge which had an epic amount of rum to choose from, I had one (which I can't remember what it's called unfortunately) which was infused with coffee, and it was divine!

LOVE Gosling's Dark Rum with Cherry Coke!!! MMMmmmm!

Angostura 1824 is mighty tasty.

Some decry it, but Bundaberg and Coke is a must have thought difficult to find in the states. Otherwise, I love a Black Rum like Cruzan Blackstrap or Gosling's is the way to go for me!

Appleton and Tommy Bahama

Cruzan for every day. Cruzan single barrel for somewhat special occasions and Ron Zacapa 23 for the most special of things.

One Barrel from Belize is a new find!!!