This rum guide that drinkers have been asking for is our attempt to make sense of it: where rum comes from, what separates the styles, and why we couldn't resist adding Wiltshire honey to ours.
The world of rum
Rum is, at its heart, a sugarcane spirit. Ferment cane juice or molasses, distil it, and you have the base for one of the most travelled, most versatile drinks on Earth. What makes rum genuinely fascinating is its range.
One word covers everything from a clean, barely-there white rum to a treacle-dark sipping spirit aged for decades. No two producers make it quite the same way, and that's exactly why it rewards exploring. You can read more about Rum in The Story of Captain Anthophila.
Where rum comes from
Rum's story begins in the Caribbean, on sugarcane plantations where early distillers found a use for the molasses left behind from sugar production. From Barbados to Jamaica, Trinidad to Cuba, each island developed its own house style, shaped by climate, cane variety, and centuries of craft passed down through families and distilleries.
Our own Honey Rum starts life in the Fair-Trade sugarcane fields of Trinidad, where the cane is fermented and distilled into rum the traditional way, long before it ever sees a drop of Wiltshire honey. That heritage matters to us. You can't shortcut a good rum, and we wouldn't want to.
White vs dark vs spiced
If you're new to rum, the styles can seem bewildering. Here's the short version:
- White (or light) rum is typically filtered after distillation, giving a clean, crisp profile. Popular in mojitos and daiquiris, it's rum in its most understated form.
- Dark rum is aged in oak barrels, sometimes for years, picking up colour, caramel notes, and a deeper, richer character along the way. This is where comparisons with lighter rum really come alive; dark rum tends to be the more contemplative, sipping-friendly cousin of the family.
- Spiced rum starts from a dark or gold base and is infused with spices, vanilla, or other flavourings, usually leaning towards warmth and sweetness.
White rum isn't a "lesser" version of dark rum; they're built for different moments, from the beach bar to the fireside armchair.
What makes a great rum
Ask any distiller, and you'll hear some version of the same answer: it's about balance. A great rum should have depth without heaviness, sweetness without cloying, and enough personality to be interesting neat, yet enough restraint to work beautifully in a cocktail. The best rums tend to share a few qualities:
- A smooth, rounded mouthfeel rather than a harsh bite
- Genuine character from ageing or terroir
- Versatility, equally at home in a glass of ice or a proper cocktail
It's this last point, versatility, that got us thinking. We'd spent years pairing honey with whisky. What would happen if we turned our attention to rum?
How honey changes rum
Honey and rum are a rather natural pairing. Where dark rum already carries notes of caramel, toffee, and dried fruit, a good single-source honey doesn't compete with those flavours; it deepens them.
Open a bottle of our Honey Rum, and you'll get it immediately: a waft of something floral and warm, followed by the earthy sweetness underneath. It's smoother than you'd expect, with the honey rounding off harder edges and adding a gentle, lingering finish.
Beeble Honey Rum
Our Honey Rum begins with Caribbean rum from Trinidad's Fair-Trade sugarcane fields. Once it lands on UK shores, we blend it with honey harvested from our own hives here in Wiltshire, and only ever the surplus our bees can comfortably spare.
The result won a Great Taste Award, one of the food and drink industry's most rigorous, palate-led accolades, and it's the same rum that's found its way onto Sky News, This Morning, and into the pages of Country Life and The Independent.
Try it
Best enjoyed over ice, our Honey Rum also makes a properly good Dark & Swarmy (our cheeky twist on a rum classic, built with ginger beer) or a Caribbean-leaning rum punch for warmer evenings.
If you'd like to see what else honey can do to a good spirit, explore our Honey Rum, browse the Honey Spirits collection, or head to the Cocktails Blog for more ways to serve it.
Life is sweet, and rum is even sweeter with a little honey in it.
