Real McCoy 12. This is one of my favorite bottles of rum and is fairly priced for a higher end rum at around $40. If you’re ready to explore the world of true high quality rums that are unadulterated without additives or sugar and absolutely divine to enjoy neat, this is the one to get. No joke. As much as I love Jamaican funk-bombs, delectable though sweetened rums like Plantation or El Dorado, and ‘limited release’ or hard-to-find bottles, you really can’t beat this classic.

The Real McCoy 12 is a Barbados rum blended and bottled at Foursquare Distillery, aged for 12 years in ex-bourbon casks (generally the standard cask type used for aging rums), and a classic representation of a superior Bajan (aka “Barbadian”) rum.

Barbados has the longest running history of rum distilling in the world (Mount Gay is the oldest distillery still in existence), and Bajan rum is definitely some of the finest out there. While rum is one of the least internationally regulated spirits (and hence one of the most varied), there are comparatively strict rum production regulations in Barbados that disallow additives such as sugar and actually require that the age statement on a bottle be representative of the YOUNGEST rum in a blend. Hence, with this, you really get a pure representation of what a 12-year aged rum should taste like. And it is mind blowingly spectacular. What are you waiting for?