Rum Journal: The Rum Awards 2016

It’s hard to believe we’re celebrating five years of the landmark Rum Awards, Rum Journal’s annual celebration of the best in rum around the Caribbean and the world. A lot has changed in the rum world since then, with awareness of the diversity and quality of rum at an all-time high and showing no signs of decline.

And rum-makers continue to innovate, as new distilleries emerge and existing ones get more creative, the latter nowhere clearer than Martinique, the Caribbean’s most innovative rum production hub.

This year’s Rum Awards, our Fifth Edition, celebrate our favorites in 12 categories, from the Rum and Rhum Agricole of the Year to the Rum Bar of the Year, along with a special new category. After tasting almost 300 rums, here are the 2016 Rum Awards, or, as some like to call them, the Rummys.

Congratulations to all the winners.

Rum of the Year: Mount Gay 1703

The rum world continues to expand, but this year the Rum of the Year award heads to one of its birthplaces: Barbados. Mount Gay has taken its legendary rum to a new level in the last few years, trying out new formulas, unveiling new limited editions and taking its existing blends to another level. And that’s precisely what happened with its halo 1703 rum, which is drinking better than ever before. This is a simply exquisite rum, with the robustness one expects from Mount Gay but an exacting, almost impossible smoothness and a remarkably delicate finish.

Runners up:  Ron Santiago de Cuba 11 años (Cuba), Ron Zafra Master Series 30 Años (Panama)