Victoria Moore: high spirits as rum sales soar

Half-filled glass of rum with ice in front of a bottle

Funnily enough, none of the big rum distillers have tried to market rum with raw meat – but there are plenty of spiced rums around (the recipes are usually proprietary, but think clove, cinnamon and vanilla), as well as flavours such as ginger (as in Jamaica Cove’s Black Ginger Rum) and pineapple (the best is Plantation Pineapple Stiggins' Fancy, around £35 from specialist spirits retailers).

With its hints of molasses, vanilla and sunshine, I tend to think of rum as a summer drink – but if you’re pouring a rum that’s been aged in oak until it’s golden or dark, why not sip it by a roaring fire as a digestif, as you would a fine brandy or whisky? Try Diplomático Reserva Exclusiva (£41.50, Waitrose & Partners) or El Dorado 12 Year Old (£36.50, Ocado).

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Two glasses of strawberry daiquiri cocktail

Then, of course, there are cocktails. I recently read that bartender and tiki expert Jeff ‘Beachbum’ Berry spent a year working on his daiquiri. A year! That’s how long some people spend on their doctoral thesis. Anyway, his conclusion was that the best daiquiri rum is dry, white and above 80-proof (above 40% alcohol content by volume). I recommend Plantation Three Stars (£25, Marks & Spencer). However (sorry, Jeff), when the nights get longer, I like a daiquiri made with a richer rum for a cosier feel – try Havana Club Añejo 7 Años (£26, Sainsbury’s).

Nowadays you can even find British-made rums on the market. Try the varieties made by Essex-based distillery English Spirit, whose founder, John Walters, imports molasses as a key ingredient. Walters drinks his rum neat but, for a more autumnal feel, recommends mixing rum and fresh apple juice with a lot of cracked ice – ‘it makes a lush aperitivo’.