31 Best Rum Mixers For Any Occasion

Rum and Coke is perhaps the most ubiquitous combination that you will find at bars worldwide. The rum and Coke is a frequent choice by casual and novice drinkers, but it isn’t necessarily a bad drink.

While rum and Coke on their own may turn some noses of serious drinkers and cocktail enthusiasts, there are some great ways you can use Coca-Cola in rum cocktails. Here are a couple of ideas of how you can use Coke or other colas as a unique mixer for your rum:

• Get creative with your cola. Make your own cola using spices, herbs, citrus, and natural sweeteners. Here is one recipe that you could try for making cola at home.
• Experiment in your kitchen by making foam. If you want to have some fun with Coke as a mixer, you could use it in various ways besides cracking the can and pouring over ice.
• Make a slushie. Slushie cocktails have been having a moment in recent years, and this doesn’t seem to be slowing down yet. Coke makes for a great slushie that you can mix with rum for a fun version of the classic.

A Cuba Libre is a delicious rum and coke highball cocktail. It consists of rum, Coca-Cola, and fresh squeezed lime juice and garnish. It’s a wonderful, if simple, combination that has been a favorite at bars, homes, and parties for over a century.

Amazing Cuba Libre Cocktail

The Cuba Libre is a classic cocktail that has been around for over 100 years. This is a simple cocktail to make that blends rum, cola, and lime into one unforgettable experience.

Check out this recipe

Club soda is one of the most versatile and best rum mixers. Club soda has a relatively neutral flavor or aroma, you can use it with numerous other ingredients to make a delicious rum cocktail. There’s some salt and minerals in club soda, so it’s not entirely devoid of taste or smell, but they are subtle enough to pair well with many different rums and mixers.

Here are some of the many great rum cocktails that include club soda as a mixer:

• Rum Collins
• Mojito
• Rum Rickey
• Rum Fizz

There are many other cocktails that you can make with rum and club soda, but these are some of the most famous. The nice part about using club soda as a mixer is that you can create your own version of a classic template like a collins, fizz, or rickey. Add different herbs, citrus, or other flavors that compliment your rum to make a unique drink of your own.

Try our recipe for the Mojito. A refreshing rum and club soda cocktail with fresh lime juice and mint.

Amazing Mojito Recipe - Fresh Lime and Mint

The rum based Mojito is a delicious and highly refreshing lime and mint tasting cocktail. This is a summer favorite drink that brings out memories of nice warm weather and relaxation.

Check out this recipe

Rum and pineapple juice is one of those combinations that just works. Whether you want to sip a Royal Hawaiian Mai Tai or drink the combination in a highball, these two ingredients can work harmoniously. You can also add pineapple to some classic cocktails like collins or fizz.

Pineapple juice and rum are found in classic Tiki drinks worldwide. Just make sure that you are using a quality, fresh juice product. Some of the best pineapple juices that you can use include:

• Lakewood Organic Pineapple Juice
• RW Knudsen Pineapple Juice

The Pina Colada is a drink known worldwide and can be made virgin or with rum with great success. One of the essential ingredients in a Pina Colada is coconut cream. Coco Lopez Cream of Coconut is one of the tastiest examples of coconut cream you will find and is available to buy on Amazon. It’s relatively inexpensive, too!

Another frozen drink you can make with coconut cream and rum is the Lava Flow. The Lava Flow is a frozen tropical cocktail that is perfect for enjoying during the summer months. The drink combines rum, coconut cream, strawberries, and other ingredients that make it a sweet rum-based treat.

Ginger beer is a delicious option as a mixer with rum and is the main component of one of the most beloved rum cocktails: The Dark ‘N Stormy. The Dark ‘N Stormy contains ginger beer and a Gosling’s Black Seal rum float on top.

The ginger beer and dark rum work wonderfully together. Ginger beer has a sharp bite and aggressive ginger profile that pairs perfectly with the dark, sweet rum with its rich flavors of molasses, dark fruit, and spice.

There are plenty of other excellent cocktails made with rum and ginger beer. To create delicious cocktails with rum and ginger beer, you can add fruit juices, club soda, and other mixers. You can also try using spiced rum, light rum, or aged rums with your ginger beer to experiment with various drink recipes in your bar at home.

Like ginger beer, ginger ale is a fantastic choice to mix with rum. It is similar in flavor , however, it is typically much less spicy and has a softer, gentler ginger profile. Ginger ale tends to be sweeter and less boldly flavored compared to ginger beer. This lighter flavor profile makes it an excellent choice for mixing with rums that have more aggressive flavors themselves in order for the rum to truly stand out.

Some rums that will pair well with ginger ale include:

• AKAL Chai Rum Reserve – This brand is a complex dark rum that is made using two Indian teas. The unique flavor profile is something that you want to highlight, and ginger pairs well with tea, so making tasty cocktails should be a breeze.
• Ten To One White Rum – This white rum is on the botanical side, featuring peppery and vegetal notes that make it a great choice to pair with mellow ginger ale.
• Malibu Original Coconut Rum – If you like your libations on the sweeter side, then Malibu may be an excellent choice to pair with ginger ale. The coconut plays well with the ginger and fruity profile of ginger ales.

Sweet and sour mix works wonderfully with rum. The citrus flavors in the sweet and sour mix complement light or dark rum and are excellent mixers for spiced rums. You can use a sweet and sour mix with rum by itself or in a recipe that involves other ingredients. The best sweet and sour mix is one that you make at home so that you can control the amount of added sugar that goes into it. Some great rum cocktails with sweet and sour mix include:

• Rum Sour
• Long Island Iced Tea

Did you know you can make Margaritas with rum instead of tequila? Try our recipe for the best Rum Margarita using fresh ingredients instead of the normal bottled sweet and sour mix.

Best Rum Margarita

The Rum Margarita is a different take on the classic tequila based margarita. This cocktail is a little sweeter and smoother than a traditional margarita.

Check out this recipe

Another classic rum mixer is a citrus soda like 7UP or Sprite. Using pre-made soft drinks allows you to get similar flavors that you would from making a Rum Collins, but without having to layer and build the cocktail the way you would when constructing a proper Rum Collins.

You won’t get the same result using 7UP or Sprite as you would if using fresh citrus, simple syrup, and club soda. Still, you will get a refreshingly sweet, bubbly cocktail that you can easily mix with rum, whether at home, camping, riding in a boat, or at an outdoor party.

The convenience of 7UP and Sprite mixed with a white rum, when you are doing various outdoor activities is part of what makes them great choices as mixers for rum.

Orange juice is another popular choice for mixing with rum cocktails.

Whether you are looking to put a slight change to a classic like a Screwdriver or are using orange juice in combination with other mixers or liquors, it works wonderfully with rum.

Like with most fruit juices, fresh is always best. Take the extra time to squeeze your orange juice by hand if possible, and you will achieve much better mixing results.

Some of the tastiest rum cocktails made with orange juice include:

• Three Dots and a Dash. Three Dots and a Dash is one of the most famous Tiki cocktails including OJ. It was invented by the legendary Don the Beachcomber and originally contained orange juice before being substituted with curacao in more recent iterations.
• Hurricane. The Hurricane is an iconic cocktail that combines rum, passion fruit, orange juice, and other ingredients to make a potent rum-based cocktail that is dangerously easy to drink.
• Rum and Orange Juice. You can take a simple classic like the Screwdriver and reinvent it by using rum. Try a spiced or dark rum with fresh orange juice for a surprisingly unique version of this old-school drink.

Mangos are a great fruit to mix with cocktails, especially drinks highlighting rum. You can add mango to cocktails in a few different ways, including:

• Use a mango purée. Purée fresh mango to use in various rum cocktails. You could use this puree later for Martinis, Mojitos, or frozen cocktails like your favorite blended rum drink.
• Mix with mango nectar or juice. You can use mango nectar for drinks that you want to add mango flavor without getting the flesh of the meat in the glass. This Best Mango Juice (available on Amazon.com) is considered by many to be one of the freshest tasting mango juices that you’ll find.
• Muddling fresh mango into a cocktail. You can muddle fresh mango pieces to give your cocktail a delicious accent of mango. Try making a Mojito with fresh mango for a version that looks and tastes great.

Put a delicious twist on a classic cocktail like a Mojito or even a Scorpion Bowl using fresh mango fruit or juice. You can also add a generous splash of pineapple or orange juice with your mango and rum for a sweet tropical treat.

Few things are as satisfying during the winter months as a delicious cup of warm apple cider. Try it with aged rum if you want a boozy version of this drink.

Aged rum and apple cider work great together. Using a spiced rum can celebrate the cinnamon, nutmeg, and other flavors that make apple cider so popular during colder months. Try a variation on a classic cocktail by checking out this recipe for hot buttered apple cider with rum.

The complex flavor profile is what makes grapefruit juice such an excellent ingredient in cocktails. It’s tart and bitter but has an underlying sweetness that balances it out just enough to make it palatable and keep you coming back for another sip. When you add alcohol to grapefruit, you can make some fantastic cocktails. Rum is no exception, and in fact, some of the most iconic rum drinks contain grapefruit juice. Two classics include:

• The Hemingway Daiquiri
• Navy Grog

You can also make an excellent highball cocktail with rum and grapefruit juice. The Pink Flamingo is one such cocktail that features a grapefruit soda and a white rum in addition to lime juice. You could use a store-bought grapefruit soda or make your own using fresh-pressed grapefruit juice and any sweetener to taste.

Coconut water has been an increasingly popular choice to mix with rum over the decades. In this lighter, healthier alternative, you can get some subtle coconut flavors while showcasing the rum better than you can with coconut cream.

Simply serve the two over ice after a gentle stir to combine the ingredients, and you will have a perfectly refreshing cocktail where you can still taste the rum.

You’ll find simple syrup in many rum cocktails, generally as one of several mixers, especially in cocktails that use lemon or lime juice like the daiquiri. But you can use the simple syrup as the only sweetener in a spirit-forward cocktail if you want the rum to be the focus of the drink. Enter the Rum Old-Fashioned.

Like the traditional version generally made with whiskey, the Rum Old-Fashioned is made with the following ingredients:

• Just the spirit (rum)
• Simple syrup
• Bitters
• Ice
• Citrus peel

It’s one of the very best ways that you can enjoy rum in a cocktail while highlighting the flavors and aromas of the liquor.

If you want to try a Rum Old-Fashioned, just substitute the whiskey in this Old-Fashioned Recipe with some dark rum.

Coffee is one of the best mixers you can use with alcohol to serve either warm or chilled. From Martinis to drinks served piping hot in a glass mug, coffee lends itself to numerous delicious drink recipes. Rum is one of the best liquors you can choose when you want to make an alcoholic coffee drink.

Use rum in an Espresso Martini and see how the drink changes depending on which rum you choose. There are countless plays off the Espresso Martini, such as this creative take on Difford’s Guide.

Another warm rum cocktail that is a popular choice during the winter months is rum with hot chocolate. As with any mixer, quality matters. Choose a high-quality hot chocolate mix or make your own for the best results. Dark chocolate mixes are a good choice as they tend to be less sweet than milk chocolate and have a bitterness that works well with many rums.

Experiment with different rums to find your favorite. Many people prefer recipes with aged rums as they add complexity to the drink with rich dark fruit and spice notes in both aroma and flavor, which tend to work very well with chocolate.

One cocktail trend that seems to be making its way to restaurant and home bar settings is drinks made with various vegetables and fruits. Mixing in fruits and vegetables is a healthy choice for imbibing, but it also leads to some great flavors. One of the easiest ways to incorporate multiple fruits and vegetables into a drink is making a smoothie. How about a rum smoothie?

One example of using a vegetable and fruit smoothie is this interesting take on the Pina Colada. Inspired by the frozen rum classic, this Pina Colada adds vegetables like spinach and light coconut milk to make a more health-conscious version of the classic.

One of the best mixers for after-dinner drinks is cream. Heavy cream is best, but you could also use half and half if you want a low-fat option. If you wish to use it in a hot rum drink, as an ingredient in an Espresso Martini, or in a cocktail served over ice, cream is an excellent choice to mix with rum.

Some of the after-dinner drinks with cream that work just as well with rum include:

• White Russian
• Mudslide
• Brandy Alexander

Eggs have been used as an ingredient in cocktails since the 1700s, primarily in eggnog. President George Washington was rumored to have written down his eggnog recipe that included Jamaican rum as one of the ingredients. Both yolks and whites were used in this drink, as in most authentic eggnog recipes.

Egg whites are a great ingredient to mix cocktails with because they add a frothy, light texture when drinking and help flavors balance together when using citrus and dark spirits. Sours are one of the most common drinks in which you will find egg whites, and rum sours work as well as any other spirit in this recipe.

Another ingredient that works surprisingly well with rum in cocktails is hot water. Hot water is the main mixer in a famous cold-weather cocktail favorite, the Hot Toddy. The Hot Toddy is traditionally made with whiskey, but you can make a great version using rum.

Aged rum and spiced rum will work best in a Hot Toddy as the flavors complement the other ingredients in the drink. Most Hot Toddies will be made with the following components:

• Honey
• Lemon
• Boiling water
• Cinnamon stick
• Star anise or cloves

You can experiment with this cocktail to find ingredients that complement the rum, but the hot water should be a constant with any Hot Toddy recipe. You can switch up your citrus, spices, and rums and even try to incorporate additional flavors like tea for a tasty rum drink suitable for the coldest evenings of the year.

Lemon juice is in so many different cocktails it could make your head spin. Rum and lemon juice are a great combination that you will find in some of the most incredible rum drinks around. The acidity from lemons is an excellent complement to the sweetness of the sugarcane spirit and works well to balance out numerous ingredients found in Tiki cocktails.

If you’re a fan of rum sours, the complex cocktail Fog Cutter will indeed have you ordering a second. This cocktail is not shy with its use of alcohol or citrus. Still, the flavors work harmoniously together, and it’s one of the most famous cocktails from the legendary Trader Vic’s in Oakland, California.

Another citrus that is especially prevalent in rum cocktails is lime juice. You will find lime juice in numerous rum cocktail recipes. Like lemon juice, it does a great job of balancing out the sweet components of many rum cocktails.

The Trader Vic’s Mai Tai is one of the most famous rum and lime cocktail recipes. However, if you want to see how rum and lime juice work together in their most pure and delicious form, look no further than the Daiquiri. The only other ingredient (besides the ice you shake it with) is simple syrup, so wisely choose your rum and lime juice. Numerous rums work in this cocktail, but you will always want to use the freshest lime juice.

One of the most celebrated cocktails of the past couple of decades is the Mojito. Mojitos have a reputation for being as delicious as they are time-consuming to make. Still, in all honesty, they’re relatively simple, delicious cocktails when made by an experienced bartender.

Fresh mint is paramount to making a traditional Mojito, as is rum. Most often, you will be using a light rum for Mojitos, but you could experiment with other rums as long as you don’t mind changing the color of the finished product a bit.

There are other great ways to combine mint and rum in cocktails. Making a mint syrup is a fantastic addition to rum drinks, and you could add it to anything from a Mojito to a Rum Toddy for a fresh, clean take on the classic.

Bloody Marys are one of the most popular cocktails for daytime drinking. Traditionally they are made with vodka, but try experimenting with rum for an interesting take on the brunch classic.

A light rum will add a little sweetness to the spicy tomato drink without being too different from the original, but if you want to try something that stands out a little more, choose a spiced rum. This recipe from Sailor Jerry takes a spiced rum and adds it to Bloody Mary mix to make a Bloody Mary unlike any you’ve ever had before.

You could also try rum in a Bloody Cesar, a closely related cocktail to the Bloody Mary. Clamato juice is the base ingredient that contains clam juice, salt, and tomato. Here’s a recipe on how to make a Bloody Cesar with rum.

Another mixer that might not be the first to come to mind with rum is tea. You can use hot tea in a drink similar to a Hot Toddy, as mentioned in the hot water section, or use iced tea to mix with rum.

Sweet tea is a very popular drink in the Southern United States and is a refreshing choice on the hottest summer days. Add some rum to this, preferably a golden or spiced rum, and you have a boozy version of an American standby that you can sip while enjoying the warmest days of the year.

Cranberry juice is a great mixer for rum, especially around the holidays. The tartness of the cranberries pairs well with the sweetness of many types of rum, and it’s a festive color that makes cocktails look extra special when served in clear glasses.

A Cranberry Daiquiri is a fantastic holiday cocktail, or you could make a Cranberry Mojito by muddling fresh cranberries in with the mint leaves. If you want something a little different, try a Cranberry Rum Punch. This recipe calls for pineapple juice, orange juice, and lemon-lime soda in addition to cranberry juice and rum, making it a perfect party punch.

Soda is a great mixer for rum, and there are endless possibilities for what kind you can use. For a classic Rum and Coke, use Coca-Cola. If you want something with a little less sugar, try Diet Coke or Dr. Pepper.

For a fruity twist on rum and soda, mix rum with Sprite or Sierra Mist. You could also try using root beer for a delicious and unique twist. If you want something really different, mix rum with Mountain Dew for a drink that’s sure to wake you up.

Experimenting with different sodas is a great way to find a new favorite rum cocktail. You’re sure to find a combination you love.

Grenadine is commonly used with rum cocktails, though the results can vary. Grenadine was added to “Daiquiri” recipes for decades at chain restaurants and bars. Fortunately, grenadine and rum do not need to be considered foes. They can work really well together when used with the right components in the correct proportions.

One classic cocktail that uses grenadine and rum together to good effect is the Mary Pickford cocktail. To make a good Mary Pickford, you’ll need:

• Golden rum
• Maraschino liqueur
• Fresh pineapple juice
• Quality grenadine

Try a premium grenadine like this Liber & Co. Real Grenadine (available on Amazon.com) that uses all-natural produce and pure sugar.

Another great example of a rum that uses grenadine is the Bacardi cocktail. The Bacardi cocktail is similar to the classic Daiquiri. You’ll need a small measure of grenadine in addition to the rum, lime, and simple syrup to give it an attractive pinkish hue and slight complexity from the pomegranate syrup.

Tonic water is something that you will find at nearly any bar. The most famous cocktail that uses it is the Gin and Tonic. However, it’s wonderful when paired with just about any liquor. One of the liquors you can use is rum, and you can make excellent Rum and Tonic water or Soda Waters with virtually any brand or style of rum for variations that are entirely unique from each other.

Whether you want to use light or dark rum, aged for a short amount of time or longer, you can create a delicious beverage with these two simple ingredients. Garnish with citrus or herbs for added complexity on the nose and palate.

Rum and ice cream.

If you’re looking for a dessert that packs a boozy punch, then rum is one of the best choices you can make. If you add rum to ice cream, there are countless recipes you can try to impress your guests at home. The two ingredients are perfect companions whether you want to mix them in a cocktail, top a sundae, or flambé the rum on top for another dessert.

This delicious dessert mixes rum with ice cream and pineapple and uses a technique called flambé. But what about cocktails with ice cream and rum? What are some rum concoctions for sweet tooths?

• Rum and Coke in an ice cream float. Try rum and Coke just like you would root beer in an ice cream float. This recipe combines the three ingredients for a grown-up version of a favorite.
• Blended Mudslide. You can make a classic blended Mudslide using either one or several different rums combined with ice cream or chocolate. Substitute rum for vodka for a sweeter, spicier version of this over-the-top dessert cocktail.

Blue Curaçao is a staple for many of the well known tropical cocktails, because of it’s distinctive bright blue color. This tasty orange based liqueur gives many drinks their distinctive blue color.

Some popular rum cocktails that use Blue Curaçao are the AMF and Blue Motorcycle.

Final Rum Mixer Thoughts

These are some of the best rum mixers, but there are many others that you can explore. Get creative and experiment with different flavors to find new favorites. And don’t forget, when in doubt, rum is a versatile alcohol, so you can’t go wrong mixing it with your favorite drinks.

What’s your favorite way to enjoy rum? Let us know in the comments below. Cheers!

Delicious Rum Cocktails

Now that you are an expert on the best rum mixers, here are some of the tastiest rum cocktails for you to try:

AMF

The AMF is a delicious mixture of rum and various other alcohols that will be sure to please your taste buds and get the party started.

Jack Frost

Look no further for the ultimate holiday cocktail. A pleasant mix of rum, pineapple and coconut. The Jack Frost will impress even the scroogest of guests!

Black Superman

True to it’s name the Black Superman cocktail is so delicious you will think it has special powers!