Langs Pineapple

Langs Pineapple is a flavoured rum bottled at a low 37.5%, and honesty serves it best: the pineapple here reads as synthetic, closer to pineapple gum or sweets than fresh fruit. The nose is sweet and citrusy with an artificial edge, and the palate piles on sweetness, marmalade and candied pineapple over a faint caramel base.

The finish keeps that sugary, synthetic pineapple going. There is no pretence of oak or depth, and tasters are candid that there are more convincing pineapple rums on the market. None of that makes it useless, though. As a cheap, brightly flavoured mixer it has a clear job: lengthen it with pineapple juice, soda or a fruity cocktail and the sweetness and bold flavour pull their weight. Sipped neat it will disappoint, but in a punch bowl or a tropical highball it does what it was made to do.