Welcome to our series where we breakdown exactly what our pairings mean (aka the tags on our posts) and take you Behind the Bar.

Sam here to talk about our Rum pairings. I love Rum. There are lots of different varieties. Sweet rums, tart rums, cheap rums, spiced rums… there are just SO MANY CHOICES. I, personally, am not a huge fan of spiced rum (had too much in college) but at one point, I did. So… here are some drinks and varieties and their parings!

Cheap Rum

Hahahahaha cheap rum is always the wrong choice. Seriously folks, if you have a choice, ALWAYS go for the next shelf. These are all choices that we regret, books like The Frostblood series and Caraval (and that whole damn series).

Sweet Rum (like coconut rum)

This is Ginny’s go-to rum. Add to a little cranberry juice and mm mmmmm this is great. Good beach drink. Reminds me of a fun space romance like the Starbound series by Amie Kaufmann and Meagan Spooner. Or a good fun adventure with my children Monty and Percy from A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue.

Spiced Rum

When I think of spiced rum, I think of my college years. We stupidly LOVED SoCo. It went in everything. These days, when I think of spiced rum, I think of heist or pirate stories. Or stories set on islands. Books like The Brief and Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao. Parker also paired Shadowshaper and Shadowhouse Fall with spiced rum. Other pirate books like Seafire are great choices too.

Rum & Coke

Rum and Coke, aka Cuba Libre, is a drink that reminds me a lot of Latin American/Hispanic stories. I know what it sounds like, but it really and truly is one of the drinks of choice. My Argentine father/family’s favorite drink. It must be coca cola, none of this pepsi nonsense. Lately, the book that reminds me most is Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera. This book is about a recently-out Latina on a journey to figure herself out. It comes out soon (Sept 17th) and my drunk review should be dropping soon.

Daiquiri

These drinks are STRONG. One usually thinks of the fun frozen drinks but traditional ones are straight liquor. Ginny paired In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire and I think that is super accurate. SUPER.

Piña Colada

YUMMM. Man, it’s such a nice day out and having a yummy frozen drink sounds fab. It better have a damn umbrella. This drink reminds me of mood reads. You know the ones. Read creepy stuff in October, contemporaries in the summer, fantasy adventures when its raining. Some of my fave mood reads are things like House of Salt and Sorrows or The Crescent Stone.

There you have it! Your mini-guide to what we mean when we pair a book with Rum (or at least some mixed drinks). See more books we’d pair with and be on the lookout for more Behind the Bar features.

COMMENT DOWN BELOW: What’s your favorite rum drink? Do you have any books that we should pair with it?