Celebrate National Rum Day By Mixing Yourself One of These Cocktails

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If you’re looking to kick back with something summery and different, then maybe trade in your scotch or bourbon for a Negroni or an Old Fashioned with rum. If you’ve only tried rum in a frozen strawberry daiquiri on a vacation, you might associate it exclusively with paper umbrella cocktails. Bartenders and liquor connoisseurs, however, are starting to use rum for more cocktails because it’s versatile enough to rival whiskey, gin, or vodka.

Whether in a cocktail or served neat, rums are gaining popularity with a variety of flavor profiles for any palate. Just in time for National Rum Day, RealClearLife has pulled together some rum cocktail recipes that any bourbon, gin, or vodka lover will enjoy.

Bacardi 8 Old Fashioned

2 parts Bacardi 8 Anos rum

1 teaspoon sugar

2 dashes Angostura Aromatic Bitters

0.5 part water

Orange peel for garnish

In an Old-Fashioned glass, pour in the sugar, water, and Angostura Bitters. Combine everything with a bar spoon (or muddler), add the Bacardi 8 Anos. Fill the glass 3/4 of the way with large ice cubes and stir repeatedly, around 10 stirs. Top with a little fresh ice. Cut a piece of orange peel and squeeze over the cocktail before dropping it into the drink.

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Rum Mule

1 part Havana Club Añejo Clásico

2 parts chilled ginger beer

2 lime wedges

2 dashes aromatic bitters

Fill a highball glass with ice and squeeze in lime wedges. Pour in Havana Club Añejo Clásico rum and ginger beer. Complete by adding a dash of bitters and stir gently.

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East India Negroni

2 parts Banks 5-Island rum

1 part Campari

1 part Lustau East India sherry

Orange peel for garnish

Add all the ingredients but the garnish to a mixing glass, then add ice. Stir and strain into a rocks glass with one large ice cube. Garnish with the orange peel.

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Gran Reserva Maestro Collins

2 parts BACARDÍ Gran Reserva Maestro de Ron

1 part freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tsp fine white sugar (caster sugar)

To fill: Soda or sparkling water

Pour the BACARDÍ Gran Reserva Maestro de Ron, lemon juice, and caster sugar into a cocktail shaker with cubes of ice and then give it a good, hard shake. Fine strain the mixture into a serving glass and top it up with soda. Finish by garnishing it with a lemon peel.