Nothing’s really wrong with Bacardi, except that it’s simultaneously more expensive and arguably inferior tasting to the 3 I brought up (Brugal, Cruzan and Flor de Cana). Can’t go wrong with a 750 of Cruzan to see if you like it- I think they’re like $9-12
And solost, the Olmeca Altos is definitely high quality tequila, despite the economical price, as is Espolon. Triplum isn’t quite Cointreau(it’s rougher around the edges), but it’s light-years better than stuff like DeKuyper “Triple Sec”.
Surprised I’m the first one to mention Pyrat. For an amber rum, it’s pretty damn good, and not overly pricey.
We keep Pyrat, Bacardi, and at least one dark rum - Kraken or Myer’s - in stock. It’s damn hot this weekend, I might have to buy some Cruzan/Applegate/Mount Gay/Flor de Cana for purely research purposes. 
Also on tap for this weekend: homemade orgeat. My local bartender has been making absolutely divine Mai Tais lately, I must learn to make them myself.
Diplomatico Anejo is my new favorite lower-priced rum. It’s very good in fruity mixed drinks, and is even decent enough to sip straight.
So my local liquor store does not carry too many varieties of rum. They did have Cruzan, so I picked up a fifth of it. You guys weren’t kidding, Cruzan is amazingly good stuff for the price. I feel like I don’t even need to go looking for a pricier rum, Cruzan does it for me. I might try creating my own orgeat now and making Mai Tais like Athena, that was an intriguing idea.
I would like to find some Olmeca Altos as bump suggested. I had a little Cointreau left and my wife prefers margaritas over daiquiris, so I picked up a pint of 1800 Silver, the best tequila they had in pint size. It’s about as pricey as the El Mayor but not nearly as good, IMO. I can definitely tell the difference even with the rest of the margarita ingredients. If I can find a good quality low priced go-to tequila similar to Cruzan for my rum needs, I’ll be set for the rest of the summer 
Olmeca or El Jimador silver are both pretty good and not too pricy.
I’d definitely put El Jimador and Olmeca Altos in the same quality tier, and I’ll throw Espolon in there as well. As best as I can recall (it’s been like 9 months since I last bought tequila), around here Olmeca Altos is slightly more expensive than the Espolon, but slightly cheaper than El Jimador.
And on the subject of rums…
Among the white rums, Flor de Cana is more of a Cuban-style (think Bacardi) light rum, meaning less molasses/sugar-cane flavored, while the Cruzan and Mt. Gay are more flavorful. I personally have a hard time getting anything other than Cruzan light- it’s like 95% of the way to something like a 10 Cane (the only really spendy white rum I can think of off hand), for like 1/2 the cost.
Hmmm… I have tried El Jimador during earlier experiments with tequila drinks, a couple years back, and I remember thinking it was pretty good. But I’m afraid I may be spoiled on the El Mayor now.
In the blanco/plata category, El Mayor is rated an “A” by the guys at Drinkhacker, while Olmeca Altos is rated a B+, and Espolon is rated an A-, so they’re all pretty close together. El Jimador, OTOH, is rated B-.
In the Reposado category, El Mayor and Espolon are both rated A, while Olmeca Altos is rated A-. No review for El Jimador reposado though.
So it turns out I was wrong- maybe El Jimador is a tad worse than the other three after all.
Havana Club (made in Cuba by Pernod Ricard NOT the Puerto Rican rum of the same name made by Barcardi) is my perfect mid-priced anejo rum.
See Cuba version and Bacardi version
So I stopped at my friendly neighborhood liquor store to pick up some more Cruzan, and I did some tequila scouting for the future. The El Mayor white is $25/fifth, Reposado $27. The El Jimador white is $20. I didn’t see Olmeca Altos, but they had Epsolon (Reposado only) at $25. At those prices I’ll probably just pay the couple bucks more and stick with El Mayor.
It’s the Cointreau at $20 per 375Ml bottle that’s really killin’ me, so I’ll keep an eye out for some Luxardo Triplum-- thanks again for the tip, bump!
And I’m really enjoying the Cruzan. I put a splash of it in some sparkling water last night with half a lime squeezed in, and it was delicious. I had been trying to avoid the beer and make more lower cal, “clean” drinks like that with vodka earlier this summer, but even the best vodka smells and tastes like rubbing alcohol to me. Thanks again all for the rec on the Cruzan!
And is, indeed, the rum Hemingway would almost certainly have had in his daiquiri. Can you guys in the US get Cuban rum these days?
Havana Club do three, a clear 3 year old, a slightly more flavourful 5 and a darker 7. The clear one would be ideal.
A coworker brought me some habeneros from her garden, so I’ve been scouring jerk recipes. Now I’ve got some ideas for the rest of the bottle of rum.
Those are all too good for frozen margaritas . Good rums, tho. Well, Appleton is a maybe, if you get the lowest priced version.
Bacardi. Nice amber rum, just enuf flavor, perfectly priced. Or a dark “navy” rum. Lost of flavor. Maybe too dark? Meyers is good.
Many people dont know there are sipping rums, like Single malt scotch.
Yep.
Same here.
It’s good and it has a REALLY cool bottle. But maybe too good for such a mixed drink.
This is not the first time in the thread I have wondered if we are all talking about the same drink. Maybe we are. But we are talking about a real daiquiri right? Not those weird blended drinks. Rum lime sugar a couple ice cubes?
Here’s my jerk marinade recipe (not big on exact amounts, so you’re mostly on your own there):
1 scotch bonnet or habanero pepper
Thyme
Juice from a couple limes
soy sauce
ginger root
few cloves garlic
medium sized onion
whole black peppercorns
whole allspice
1/2 stick cinnamon
Little brown sugar
dash of nutmeg
peanut or olive oil
Grind whole spices in spice grinder, then mix into a paste in food processor. The marinade should be pasty enough to stick to the chicken when it goes on the grill. Marinate chicken pieces for a couple hours at least. Cook on a smoky grill with whatever wood you like smoking with. Pimento wood is traditional, and one day I’m going to special order it on the internet, but until then I use apple wood.
I assume the rum is for drinking with the jerk chicken, not for the jerk marinade itself?
Well, yes, Once you use margarita mix, then use barcardi or even a decent store brand. The Op’s is not quite classic, it has “3 parts El Mayor Reposado tequila (I know the silver is more traditional, but the Reposado is so smooth), 2 parts fresh squeezed lime juice, 1 part Cointreau, dash of simple syrup, blended with a fair amount of ice.” so other than the sugar and the ice, not bad. (and honestly likely far better on a hot day and more refreshing that the original)
But he didnt ask about tequila for his margaritas (which sound great), he asked about Rum for a daiquiri… 9 Rum, 5 Lime juice, 3 simple syrup, blended well with lots of ice. No use using sipping quality rum. That much ice and sugar will drown the complexities of it. Would you make a mixed drink with good Single malt?
No no. I recommended Cruzan. But I was thinking a non blended drink. Something stirred where you can still taste the drink. A blended daiquiri isn’t the same thing as a daiquiri.
I was thinking this :
I get the feeling some are thinking this:
Or maybe even this:
http://www.cocktailtimes.com/tequila/top_strawberry_margarita.jpg
True, but I mentioned margaritas in my OP and I’ve appreciated the tequila advice I’ve gotten as well. So if anybody wants to talk tequila in this thread, bring it on!