Best British rums for a homegrown tipple, taste tested (2025)

Market Row

A blend of Jamaican, Bajan and Dominican rums infused with Kenyan black tea, Nigerian hibiscus and Pakistani red rose – sourced from Brixton Market in London, no less – this award-winning golden rum will take your tastebuds on a trip around the world. Despite its far-flung credentials, you’ll be happy to hear it’s made right here in the UK by Brixton Distillery Co. in its namesake neighbourhood. It’s re-distilled, aged in bourbon barrels then hand-packaged with its distinctive stamp. Gloriously golden.

Isle of Wight Distillery

This rum is crafted from a blend of sugar cane and molasses rum from Trinidad and the Dominican Republic.

It’s distilled in column stills, aged for up to five years in oak bourbon whiskey barrels, then infused with rock samphire, white cherry, apricot, honey, black salt and spices from the Isle of Wight. It’s fruity and delicate with distinctive flavours of caramel.

Try it in a tumbler over ice with a splash of ginger ale garnished with fresh mint and a juicy, syrupy maraschino cherry.

The Devon Rum Co.

Proudly made in Salcombe by The Devon Rum Co. – a distillery founded in 2020 – Premium Spiced Rum combines Caribbean rum, Devonian spring water, aromatic spices and fresh citrus zest.

The resulting spirit is full-bodied and gently spiced with rich aromas of charred orange peel, smooth caramel and hints of cardamom. On the palate, you can expect cinnamon, star anise, citrus, maple syrup and peppercorn. Because there’s no vanilla, unlike many spiced rums, it’s not sickly-sweet and can be enjoyed on the rocks.

Drop Works

Twice pot-distilled in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, Dark Drop Rum is a rich blend of two molasses-based distillations that’s sweet and fruity with intense flavours of blackcurrant, liquorice and star anise. Interestingly, it’s fermented with a world-first three-strain yeast and water from an ancient aquifer located directly beneath the distillery. For best results, stir it into an old fashioned or shake it into an espresso martini.

Dunnet Bay

Dunnet Bay Distillers is the UK’s most northerly mainland distillery, and it’s now introduced a rum to its star-studded line up. Mapmaker’s Coastal Spiced Rum is twice-distilled using bespoke copper stills and is then blended with Caribbean rum and Loch Calder water before being spiced with local botanicals including lemon verbena, scurvy grass, sea kelp and Scottish sea salt.

Islay Rum Company

Full-bodied and flavoursome, Islay Rum Geal – which means white in Gaelic – is inspired by the rums of Haiti and Jamaica with a distinctive Scottish twist. Unaged and clear, this rum uses imported molasses that are fermented and distilled using a double pot still before adding water and being bottled. It all takes place at the distillery in Port Ellen, Islay, better known for its whisky production. Delish in a daiquiri.

Two Drifters Distillery

Fermented, distilled and aged for a year in French oak, ex-Madeira casks in Devon, Two Drifters Signature Rum is bursting with honeycomb, orange, banana bread and brown sugar flavours.

It’s a dry rum that uses cane molasses and is carbon-negative – the distillery is run on 100 per cent renewable energy and creates minimum CO2 – while featuring a natural cork, 100 per cent compostable seal, British-made glass bottle and label crafted from sugarcane fibre, hemp and linen.

Retribution

While Somerset-based Retribution Distilling Co. is waiting for its pot-distilled rum to mature in ex-Bourbon casks, the kind folk there have decided to release small quantities unaged so we can all enjoy it now.

Smooth and creamy with notes of caramel, toffee and biscotti on the nose and flavours of pastries and white chocolate on the palate, this rum can be sipped neat or mixed into a cocktail.

Bone Idyll

Comprising a team of former bartenders – including the head distiller – Bone Idyll in Kingston-upon-Thames really knows its drinks.

Case in point is this aged rum combining a tropical blend of three traditionally-made South American and Caribbean Rums aged for up to eight years in their respective countries. It’s rich and complex with flavours of peach, cacao and tobacco.

The Isle of Barra Distillers Co.

Based at the far western edge of Scotland, The Isle of Barra Distillers Co. has introduced its Island Dark Rum: a rum infused with local Carrageen seaweed, coconut, cardamom and orange peel. Expect coconut and clove on the nose and coconut and brown sugar on the palate with a complex and warming finish. Clean and dry, it’s perfect by itself over ice.

The Old Bakery

A collaboration between London’s oldest illicit gin distillery, Old Bakery Gin, and Lift 109, a new observation experience at Battersea Power Station, Lift 109 Rum is a Jamaican rum distilled in the capital in a cask of English mead, then in a Greek Mavrodaphne cask (used for Greek dessert wines and sherry). That’ll explain its deep colour and rich flavour, then.

Étän

The brainchild of London-based sisters Laura, Briget, Noella, Caroline and Kareen, Étän Rum is inspired by their family roots in Cameroon, West Africa, and is distilled in Kent with five botanicals that include fevergrass, orange peel, cassia, ginger and vanilla. The resulting spirit is a golden spiced rum that’s keto- and vegan-friendly with zero additives and no added sugar. Smooth, spicy and not too sweet.

V Rum

This sustainable British rum is made from scratch using locally sourced, natural quality ingredients at V Rum’s state-of-the-art distillery in Hampshire.

Production is led by head distiller Mikey Melrose – under the watchful eye of husband-and-wife founders Carl and Nicole Churchill – and uses a unique process to create a powerful and robust flavour with refreshing citrus notes that are best enjoyed in a cocktail.

What makes the sip so green? The distillery operates with 100 per cent renewable electricity and uses molasses from UK sugar production to limit air miles with plans to install solar energy panels and switch to light packaging down the line.