Foursquare

Foursquare is one of the biggest names in proper modern rum, especially if you ask people who are slightly obsessed with spirits and spend too much time arguing online about additives. Based in Barbados, the distillery has built a massive reputation for making honest, traditional rum that focuses on quality rather than sugary gimmicks or pirate-themed nonsense.

The distillery is run by Richard Seale, who’s become one of the most respected figures in rum full stop. Foursquare’s whole thing is transparency and proper production. No weird flavourings, no unnecessary sweetening, no trying to hide what’s in the bottle. Just very, very good rum made properly.

Style-wise, Foursquare sits in a lovely middle ground. Rich enough to keep whisky drinkers happy, but still fresh and balanced enough to stay incredibly drinkable. You’ll usually get notes of vanilla, caramel, toasted coconut, tropical fruit, baking spice and oak, with loads of depth without the rum ever becoming too sweet or tiring.

One of the things that makes the distillery stand out is that they blend pot still and column still rum together, giving the final spirit both richness and elegance at the same time. Add proper tropical ageing into the mix and the rums end up with loads of complexity and maturity without tasting overly woody.

The Exceptional Cask Series has become especially famous among rum fans, partly because the releases are consistently excellent and partly because they vanish almost immediately whenever new batches appear. Some bottles have become genuine cult favourites at this point.

What people really love about Foursquare though is that it feels genuine. In a rum world that sometimes disappears into marketing chaos and questionable “premium” branding, Foursquare mostly just sticks to making brilliant rum and letting the bottles do the talking.