A.H. Riise Santos Dumont XO Super Premium Rum

Santos Dumont XO is bottled by A.H. Riise and labelled as cachaca, though it sits well outside the lean Brazilian template most drinkers picture. True cachaca is made from fresh cane juice and distilled once to final proof; this is built from sugar cane honey, run through a column still and finished as a soft, heavily rounded spirit, so it is better understood as a sweet cane spirit than as a dry, grassy cachaca.

The profile is openly indulgent: coconut, honey and caramel with pineapple and raisin, mild and creamy through a sweet, roasted-nut finish. Honesty matters most here, because this is sweetened to a dessert level and drinks closer to a liqueur than to a classic rum or a traditional cachaca. At 40% it is gentle and very easy, a soft pour for fans of sugary, fruit-forward spirits, and it even earns its keep in baking, rather than a dry sipper for a purist palate.