When I first tasted Bacardi’s $250 Facundo Paraíso XA rum in the New York Palace hotel’s library, it smelled like spice cake and left a deep, smoky tingle of brown sugar and butterscotch.

I was impressed. It was as seductive as a single-malt whisky yet as smooth and sweet as a small-batch bourbon.
Rum’s image is still anchored in beach bar cocktails and spiced versions with a pirate or palm trees on the label, but makers of the spirit are increasingly pushing into the luxury business. According to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, sales of super-premium rum (more than $45 a bottle) rose 414 percent by volume in the U.S. from 2003 to 2014—10 times the growth rate of ordinary rum.
Following the example of other types of distillers, rum makers are producing limited editions of rare, long-aged blends, such as Paraíso, and small-batch and single-barrel bottlings. Rich, complex, and delicious, all are about as far from cheap mixers as you can get.