Dominican Rum

Sugar cane has been grown here since the sixteenth century and rum-making became an industry in the nineteenth, with the three main houses all founded within a few decades of each other and all still family-linked. The Dominican style leans smooth, round and lightly sweet, aged in used American oak barrels in a hot climate where the spirit matures much faster than in Europe, so a seven-year-old Caribbean rum has had a harder life than its label suggests. Locals drink it with ice and lime rather than in cocktails. Mamajuana, an infusion of rum, red wine and honey over a jar of bark, herbs and roots, is the other thing every visitor is offered.

What you actually see

• The three main houses - all founded in the nineteenth century and still running.
• Tropical ageing - fast maturation in used oak in Caribbean heat.
• Mamajuana - the rum, wine and honey infusion over bark and roots.
• Distillery visits - tours and tastings near Santo Domingo and San Pedro.

When to go

Year-round. Distillery visits run on weekdays and generally need booking. Rum is cheapest in supermarkets rather than resort shops or the airport, where the same bottles carry a large mark-up.

Honest expectations

Dominican rums are often sweetened after ageing, which is legal here and normal across much of the region, and which some drinkers object to strongly; if you want it dry, look for producers who state no added sugar. Age statements mean less in this climate than in Europe. Mamajuana sold to tourists is frequently a dry jar of sticks with instructions rather than a finished drink.

Nearby

Santo Domingo and San Pedro de Macorís hold the main distilleries.