Why is Spiced Rum So Popular? A History

Spiced rum is a beloved, yet stigmatized gateway spirit that’s presence in the modern bar and cocktail world is undeniably impressive. Especially when you consider that 40 years ago, this flavored rum category was barely present in any substantial way. Which leads to the question: how did a small subset of the rum market turn into a global billion-dollar part of the spirits industry today?

Like most things with rum, it starts with some history.

History of Spiced Rum

In the age of exploration and colonization, the rums being made were, to put it mildly, a rough, fiery spirit that had to be mixed with other flavors to make them palatable enough to consume. In the Caribbean and American colonies, blending rum with local barks, fruits, berries, and spices became a common practice, which was the precursor to what we know as spiced rum. This practice continued to the modern day, and if you walk into a modern rum shop in the Caribbean, you can usually discover bottles filled with a range of ingredients that offer the customer a taste of the local flavor infused with the rum found in that country. In the modern market, spiced flavored rums are engineered to create a desired flavor profile.

Spirit companies use an array of spices, both natural and artificial, to create their expressions. The commonly used spices found in spiced rum flavor profiles are vanilla, cinnamon, allspice, cardamom, clove, ginger, and nutmeg, all balanced in their own unique recipes. The rum used is usually unaged, but there are a few rum brands that do minimally age their rums in used Bourbon barrels. Before the 1980s, spiced rums were a niche product that brands sold in relatively small quantities compared to the rest of their portfolio. In 1984, all of this changed.

Captain Morgan & The Rum Wars

The one brand that receives credit for the popularity of spiced rum in the modern market is Captain Morgan, a 2024 NY International Spirits Competition Gold winner. Far from an overnight success, the Captain Morgan brand was created by Joseph E. Seagram and Sons, LTD., in 1944, and was an entirely different rum line than what we see today, with a range of four rums: White label, Black label, Gold label, and Deluxe label, sourced from across the Caribbean from countries such as Guyana, Jamaica, and Barbados. In 1981, Diageo purchased the Captain Morgan brand from Seagram and relaunched the brand as a spiced rum in 1984 that was originally produced at the Destilería Serrallés (producers of Don Q rum) in Ponce, Puerto Rico. The iconic Captain Morgan character seen on the bottle label was created by the artist Don Maitz. The logo has been tweaked and altered over the years, but it still resembles a Maitz creation.

When the contract with Destilería Serrallés expired in 2008, Diageo opened a new distillery in 2010 on the neighboring island of St. Croix after the U.S. Virgin Islands persuaded the company that the island would be a better fit for their operation. This triggered a bitter rivalry and economic war between the island of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands due to the amount of tax money that goes back to the island based on the amount of rum they produce. The distillery in St. Croix is primarily focused on producing rum for the Captain Morgan brand.

Captain Morgan Today

The modern Captain Morgan brand has offered some other products over the years, like Private Stock and White Rum, as well as limited edition products such as a Sherry cask finish and a Tiki fruit-flavored rum. The core brand is sold at 70 proof, but other expressions in the Captain Morgan line are sold at 80 to 100 proof. The core spiced rum remained unchanged until it was reformulated in 2023, when Diageo added Madagascar vanilla to the flavor profile, winning a gold medal at the 2023 New York International Spirit Competition. Through creative marketing and the power of the Diageo portfolio, Captain Morgan has become one of the most dominant spiced rums around the globe with its placement in stores, bars, and restaurants. The popularity of Captain Morgan led to its own variant of the Cuba Libre cocktail called the Captain and Coke. This highball recipe is as simple as it sounds, which leads to the popularity of this easy-to-make drink. It consists of 1 1/2 oz of Captain Morgan Spiced Rum topped off with Coca Cola, lime wedge optional.

A Spiced Rum Renaissance

With the popularity of the Captain Morgan brand, other spirit companies began producing their own spiced rums. If you visit the Caribbean Islands, you will find that almost all the rum companies have their own unique spiced rum, which is like the rum shops of old and uses locally sourced spices from that country, giving each one its own unique flavor profile. Examples of these brands are Foursquare Spiced from Barbados with its subdued cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla notes, Clarke’s Court Spiced Rum from Grenada has fruit notes with a strong dose of nutmeg, Canerock from Jamaica leads with a bold ginger flavor accompanied by anise, vanilla, coconut, fruit, and other spices, and Bounty Spiced Rum from St. Lucia delivers a strong dose of vanilla, wood spices, cinnamon, and baking spices.

As the craft spirit industry has grown over recent years, we have witnessed quite a few new spiced rums enter the market as different distilleries produce their own incarnations for the category. In the United States, you can find John Emerald’s Gene’s Spiced Flavored Rum from Alabama uses a bold Star Anise with nuts and other spices to differentiate itself in the market, Siesta Key Spiced Rum from Florida, infuses their rum with a balance of spices including cinnamon, allspice, vanilla, nutmeg, as well as tropical fruits, Koloa Spiced Rum from Hawaii has a lighter flavor spice profile with hints of cacao, cinnamon, nuts and other flavors, and Bayou Spiced Rum from Louisiana, provides its own unique twist on category with notes of maple syrup, bananas, allspice, cloves and other spices.

The alcohol proof of spiced rums varies by brand and expression, depending on the producer. For example, Captain Morgan’s core brand is 70 proof, Kraken’s core brand is 94 proof, and others, like Chairman’s Reserve Spiced Rum are 40 proof. For the cocktail creators, the range of proofs and flavor profiles provides them the opportunity to create unique flavor experiences for their customers.