Foursquare Spiced Rum

Foursquare's own spiced rum is an unusual entry in a category dominated by sweetened bottles. Built on young Barbados molasses distillate from Richard Seale's St Philip distillery, it follows the house's no-additives instincts and is recorded here as unsweetened, so the spice comes across as seasoning rather than syrup.

The result is a dry, Christmas-cake style of spiced rum. Cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg lead the aroma, joined on the palate by vanilla, butterscotch, coconut and a twist of orange peel, all over a light, gently spiced wood base. At 37.5% it is soft and easygoing, low enough in strength to suit neat sipping, eggnog and winter cocktails. Because it skips the heavy sweetening of most spiced rums, it tends to land well with drinkers who normally find the category cloying, a friendly, festive bottle that still tastes like rum underneath the spice.