Botran Cobre

Botran Cobre comes from Industrias Licoreras de Guatemala, the same highland operation behind the country's best-known soleras, and is built from sugar-cane honey, the miel de cana base that sets Guatemalan rum apart from molasses styles. It is column distilled and finished as a spiced rum, but one that runs noticeably drier than the sweet norm for the category.

The spicing is the whole point here, and it is unusually green and savoury: cardamom takes the lead, backed by clove, cinnamon and allspice over light vanilla and young wood. The palate stays comparatively dry for a spiced rum, with a smoky, cardamom-and-clove finish that reads more Christmas baking than candy. That dryness makes it better suited to mixing and the occasional winter pour than to slow neat sipping, and it rewards anyone who finds most spiced rum too sugary.