PINEAPPLE RUMS

Are all Pineapple flavored Rums created equal? Let’s find out....

We put to the test pineapple flavored rums made by Cruzan, Malibu, and Captain Morgan’s Parrot Bay. The rums’ aroma and flavor were rated on a scale of one (“Pineapple? Really?”) to five (“It’s like I just cut open a freshly picked pineapple!”), and each was judged for overall taste and mixability.  Our highly unscientific results…..

Our taste testers gave the Cruzan pineapple rum a 3 for fruit aroma and an average of 2.5 for pineapple flavor.  Plenty of pineapple aroma, especially right when the cap came off the bottle, but it tasted sugary. Any pineapple flavor seemed to be overwhelmed by the alcohol (it contains the highest amount of alcohol of the three rums we tasted).  When tasted with a mild mixer like sprite or club soda, the pineapple flavor was again lost in the alcohol of the rum.

This rum from Puerto Rico rated an average of 2 for pineapple aroma but a 4.5 for flavor. Again, plenty of pineapple aroma when the cap came off the bottle which lessened quite a bit when poured into a glass. This rum had easily the most pineapple flavor of the rums tasted, almost like mixing pineapple juice in a drink, and the flavor was not lost in any mixers used.  Bottom line, not much alcohol but loads of pineapple flavor. Because there is so much flavor in this rum, you can always halve the pineapple rum in your drink recipe and add more regular  (80 proof or more) unflavored rum to boost the alcohol a bit if need be.

The grades for the Malibu product were similar to the Cruzan rum, 2.5 for fruit aroma and a solid 3 for pineapple flavor. In this case the pineapple flavor when used with a mixer was quite sugary, more like a pineapple flavored candy, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing when used with a mild flavored mixer.

And the winner is…..

Our taste testers all felt that the Captain Morgan’s Parrot Bay product was the overall winner, with the most fresh pineapple flavor both when tasted alone and with a variety of mixers. Not much alcohol but loads of flavor and one of the least expensive of the rums tasted. The Malibu product was low in alcohol as well, but was more reminiscent of a pineapple candy syrup than anything else. The most redeeming quality found in the Cruzan product was its relatively high alcohol content (55 proof vs. 42 proof for the other two), but the fruit flavor was mostly lost in the alcohol and sugar. The CocktailsHawaii.com best buy was by far the pineapple rum by Captain Morgan’s Parrot Bay.
 

* Prices listed are a ballpark average for these rums in stores in and around Honolulu.