RumX Awards 2024

Curious about the bottlers who made waves this year? Don’t miss the first part of our RumX Awards 2024. Let’s dive into the highlights of this year’s best rum releases!

Rums of the Year 2024

As in previous years, we applied transparent criteria to determine our rankings:

• Only rums released in the last 12 months (between December 1, 2023, and November 30, 2024),
• with a minimum of 25 community reviews

were eligible. Rankings were based on the average community rating, ensuring a fair and transparent process.

Unlike subjective “best of” lists created by editorial teams or sponsored content, the RumX Awards are 100% community-driven: Our awards are based on the evaluation of over 79,000 reviews submitted in 2024 by RumX users worldwide.

To protect the integrity of the RumX Awards, we introduced advanced AI algorithms this year to identify and flag suspicious reviews. After a careful review, we excluded over 1,000 reviews. These algorithms now run in the background, ensuring fairness by quickly detecting and excluding abusive accounts and respective reviews. This way, the RumX Awards remain a true reflection of our community’s voice.

1st Place: Distilia Long Pond 1983 The Sins Avarice by Robert Bauer

Our community’s rum of the year is the 1983 Long Pond released by Distilia as part of their “The Sins” series (RX20715) which is curated together with German spirit expert Robert Bauer. With an extraordinary average score of 9.31 out of 80 ratings, this release fascinated our community with its depth and rare complexity of both tropical and stone fruits, delicate sweetness and well-balanced cask influence. Congratulations to Distilia and Robert for bottling this masterpiece and thanks to our distillery of the year, Long Pond, for producing rums of this extraordinary quality!

“This spirit is proof that the right partnerships can create magic - where 1 + 1 equals far more than 2. Huge kudos to Rob Bauer and the Distilia team for making this happen! We’re deeply honored, and none of this would be possible without the incredible RumX community. A big thank you to everyone who voted and supported us - this victory is ours together. Cheers to that!” - Jakub Baginski (Distilia)

“It feels surreal that THE SINS idea has evolved into the Rum of the Year 2024 on the world's largest rum platform! We are incredibly proud and grateful that our Long Pond 1983 was able to inspire the RumX community so much! A huge thank you to every single member for their honest feedback! More than 80 reviews for this sophisticated bottling are really insane and this award goes to all of you! A heartfelt thank you to Distilia for this incomparable project and the (outrageous) opportunity to pick the sultanas from their warehouse for it! Thank you RumX for this wonderful award!” - Robert Bauer

2nd Place: The Rum Cask Enmore Guyana 1994

The second spot goes to The Rum Cask’s 1994 Enmore (RX21851). Being among the oldest known REV releases to date, this rum proves that Enmore belongs to the distilleries that produce rums that benefit from very long aging - also here, the rich aromatic balance of both dried plums, leather, wood, licorice, tobacco, spices and other dried fruits fascinated our community, resulting in a score of 9.04 points from 25 ratings.

“Wir freuen uns riesig über die Auszeichnung unseres REVs in den RumX Awards 2024. Wir sehen RumX als eine informative Plattform, in der die Vielfalt der verschiedenen Rumstile aufgezeigt wird. Hier treffen sich Liebhaber der Rumszene, die sich mit Gleichgesinnten über eines der wunderbarsten und faszinierendsten Getränke austauschen können.” - Jens Owczarek (The Rum Cask)

3rd Place: Savanna 2009 Édition Restaurant Blanc Paris

Savanna’s 2009 Édition Restaurant Blanc Paris (RX20222) rounds out the top three with an average score of 9.04 out of 54 ratings. The unique and increasingly rare HERR profile of overripe strawberries, tropical and green fruits, fresh minty-mentholy notes, as well as elegant woody influences is showcasing all its strengths in this release. The bottling stands on top of the many Savanna rums the RumX community enjoyed this year: With 490 reviews, Savanna was among the most tasted distilleries in the past twelve months.

“It's amazing, truly wonderful!! We are so proud of the recognition given to our rums in 2024 by the RumX community, thanks to this Savanna Edition Blanc Paris release. And we also receive as a great honor the entry of our small distillery among the Top 10 Distilleries 2024 by RumX! It is a real recognition worldwide given by the RumX community to our entire team and to all those who have contributed since 1870 to creating, distilling, aging Savanna rums, and writing its history. I hope that this will make many rum enthusiasts want to open our bottles, taste Savanna, and come visit us here in Reunion.” - Sam Pitarch (Savanna)

Ranks 4 to 10 in the RumX Awards 2024 showcase a range of origins and styles, from the Trinidadian powerhouse T.D.L. with three releases to the already mentioned funky character of Savanna’s HERR rum and the historic allure of long-aged Cuban releases. Interestingly, the span of ratings has increased on both ends compared to 2023: While this year’s top rum is more than two decimal points ahead of last year’s winner (9.31 vs. 9.10 average points), rank 10 this year ended up with an average score of 8.77 which would have been clearly below last year’s entry level for the ten best rums (8.87).

Another interesting aspect is to see both new names like Spirit Gallery and Spiritori as well as rum giants like Velier and Foursquare on the list. But despite the variety of bottlers behind our top rums, the RumX community keeps up a clear preference for Molasses-based rums that receive a comparatively long aging. What do you think, dear rum community: Will we see this change next year, or will the charm of long-matured rums once again define the annual highlights?

Either way, we’re sending both a thank you note as well as a shoutout to all rum distilleries and bottlers out there. We’re eager to discover the gems you have in store for us in 2025!

Best Rum Releases 2024

Top Standard Rums 2024

Aside of these top rums consisting of limited editions, most of them single cask releases, we also had a look at the top rums among the more widely available range of what we allowed ourselves to call “standard rums” - which by no means implies a judgment of quality. Instead we want to find the best go-to rums for any occasion, from easy sipping to sophisticated tasting. We’ve come up with our “top standard rums 2024” ranking based on below criteria:

• No limited edition rums
• Minimum of 25 community reviews in the last 12 months (between December 1, 2023, and November 30, 2024)

ranked in ascending order of their average score. The result is a diverse picture of the preferences and styles our community enjoys, showcasing the full range of rums and rum-based spirit drinks out there.

1st Place: Foursquare Doorly's 14 Years

This Barbadian rum (RX313), aged for 14 years, is celebrated for its harmonious blend of pot and column still distillates. Tasting notes reveal typical aromas of vanilla, caramel, oak, coconut, tropical fruits and pastries ending up in a long, spicy finish. Foursquare is widely considered as one of the leading rum distilleries worldwide as confirmed by numerous awards including the prestigious IWSC trophies - and last not least the RumX community verdict.

2nd Place: Hampden Pure Single Jamaican Rum

A quintessential Jamaican rum (RX3128) from the famous Hampden distillery, this release embodies the signature 'funk' with strong, estery tropical fruits like ananas and banana, touches of vanilla, oak, nuts and spices. The release is continued in different badges, resulting in slight differences over the years, but never denying its origins.

3rd Place: Ron Zacapa Centenario XO Solera (3rd Edition)

Zacapa rums originate from Guatemala and are known for their place on the sweeter end of the rum spectrum. Our community characterizes the XO Solera's profile (RX23) as a harmonious balance of sweetness, wood, and spices. Tasting notes highlight a blend of caramel, dried fruits, and dark chocolate, complemented by sweet oak spices such as clove, vanilla, and cinnamon.

4th Place: HSE Grande Réserve XO

From Martinique's Habitation Saint-Étienne, this rum (RX28) is a blend of reserves aged for six to eight years, with a small portion of rum from 1960. The RumX reviewers describe it as having aromas of oak, vanilla, dried fruits, muscat, coffee, tobacco and roasty spices. Given the wide availability and harmonious aromatic profile, this release is considered a perfect entry to the world of Agricole rhums.

5th Place: Neisson Profil 105

This rhum agricole from Martinique is aged in lightly toasted French and American oak barrels. Following our community impressions, the Neisson Profil 105 (RX58) features a complex aroma with notes of dark fruits, vanilla, warm peppery spices, tobacco and chocolate ending in a rich finish of coffee and woody cask influences.

Rum is often praised as the most diverse spirit on earth (and we fully agree with this statement!), and the top Standard Rums of our community wonderfully showcase this wide array of styles, representing both the Molasses and Agricole world as well as the sweeter category of spirit drinks. Everybody interested in the world of rum, looking for some nice entry-level releases in the world of Agricoles, Molasses or simply easy sipping spirit-based drinks will find a highly regarded community favorite in our list. The world of rum is waiting to be explored!

Best Standard Rums of the Year

Conclusion

This year has been exciting, showcasing fascinating developments in the world of rum. The dominance of Jamaica, Guyana, and La Réunion confirms the popularity of British and French styles, particularly molasses rums with high ester content. Surprisingly, a Cuban rum made it into the Top 10, hinting at a potential trend. Traditionally known for lighter rums, Cuba seems to be gaining attention through exclusive releases and longer aging. Younger vintages, like the two only 8-year-old Savana HERRs, are also increasingly impressive, showing that quality isn’t solely defined by age.

In the standard segment, there’s a clear trend toward unsweetened rums - 8 out of 15 in the rankings contain no dosage. Foursquare’s Doorly’s 14 for example seems to be an excellent choice for any rum enthusiast. Its balanced profile makes it perfect for daily sipping, sharing with friends, or even elevating a sophisticated cocktail. With its combination of depth and versatility, it's a standout option that caters to both casual enjoyment and creative mixology.

Having two representatives of Martinique’s Neisson distillery in our community’s top list next to the already discussed HSE Grand Reserve also points to a growing appreciation for Rhum Agricole. This style offers many undiscovered gems with excellent value for money.

Ready to explore for yourself? Dive into the latest selection and find out what treasures you can uncover!

But what does the future hold? Do you think long-aged, limited-edition rums will always dominate the top rankings, or is there room for younger, innovative profiles to challenge the classics? Which trend would you like to see emerge in 2025?

On the other hand, the top standard rums showcase a wide range of styles and origins. Do you think these accessible options represent the best “gateway” into the rum world, or are they missing the complexity needed to truly captivate new enthusiasts? What’s your favorite go-to rum from the list?

Last but not least, let us express our gratitude for the unparalleled spirit we get to explore in our RumX community day by day. All of this would not be possible without the passion and commitment that our RumX users put into this favorite hobby of ours. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your reviews, discussions, bottle shares, tasting events—you rock big time!

We over here at the RumX team hope you get to enjoy the last days of the year in festive mood with your favorite people and drink. A little promise from our side: Next year will bring some exciting things to the RumX world - stay tuned. ✌🏼