Planteray 3 Year Old

Don't let the name mislead you — this isn't a single three-year-old rum but Planteray's 3 Stars, a white blend named for three Caribbean islands. Master blender Alexandre Gabriel pulls rum from Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad, each bringing something different: Barbados the roundness, Jamaica the tropical funk, Trinidad a grassy, elegant thread through the middle.

Planteray (the house formerly known as Plantation) does something clever here. Rather than bottling colourless neutral spirit, they age the components in their home islands, finish them in small cognac casks in France, then carbon-filter the colour back out — so you keep the maturity and lose the tint. It's bottled at 41.2%, a touch above the usual, precisely so the flavour holds up when you build a drink around it.

On the nose there's honey, cocoa bean and a dusting of baking spice. The palate is light-bodied and biscuity, with a bittersweet, almost root-beer character and a grassy, herbal finish that gives away its Caribbean roots. This is a white rum with actual personality — it doesn't vanish under lime and sugar.

For the money, it's one of the smartest mixing rums going. Buy it to make better daiquiris than your local bar.

How to Serve

Shaken into a daiquiri or a Ti' Punch, or lengthened in a Mojito or Rum Collins. It has enough backbone to sip over ice, but it was built for the shaker.

Where to Drink It

Tayēr + Elementary in Old Street for a modern take on a rum sour. Swift in Soho for a properly made daiquiri. Black Rock in Shoreditch if you want it in expert hands.

Food Pairings

A daiquiri before grilled prawns or ceviche is the move — the rum's grassy edge loves anything citrus-cured. It also plays nicely with jerk chicken.