Spiced rum and dark rum look alike in the bottle and are different things. Dark rum is rum whose color comes from time in oak, from added caramel, or from both. Spiced rum is rum with flavors added, and under US law it is not even in the same legal class: it is a “flavored spirit,” which can be bottled as low as 60 proof while plain rum cannot go below 80. Almost every other word on a rum label (white, gold, black, aged, overproof, navy strength) has no legal definition in the United States at all. Here is what the law actually says rum is, what each label term does and does not tell you, the handful of places where the words are regulated, how strong the common bottles are, and how to count the drinks.
Last verified September 13, 2026. US definitions are quoted from 27 CFR 5.147, 5.151 and 5.155; EU rules from Regulation (EU) 2019/787; the Martinique AOC from its published specification; Brazil’s cachaça rules from TTB’s 2013 rulemaking and a translated regulation; brand facts from producer sites; market figures from DISCUS and Impact Databank via Shanken News Daily; standard drinks from NIAAA; calories from USDA FoodData Central. Full list at the end.
| Rum | Fact |
|---|---|
| US legal definition | Spirits distilled from fermented sugar cane juice, syrup, molasses or by-products at under 95% ABV, bottled at not less than 40% (27 CFR 5.147) |
| Legally defined types in the US | One: cachaça, a distinctive product of Brazil |
| Terms with no US legal meaning | White, light, silver, gold, amber, dark, black, aged, overproof, navy strength, agricole |
| Spiced rum’s legal class | Flavored spirits (27 CFR 5.151): rum plus flavors, with or without sugar, at not less than 30% ABV (60 proof) |
| Where the color comes from | Oak casks, caramel color, or both; rum leaves the still clear |
| Standard drinks in a 1.5 oz pour | 0.88 at 35% (Captain Morgan Original Spiced); 1.0 at 40%; 1.18 at 47% (Kraken); 1.58 at 63% (Wray and Nephew Overproof) |
| US rum sales, 2025 | 19.4 million 9-liter cases, $2.08 billion supplier revenue (DISCUS) |
What the law says rum is
The federal standard of identity, 27 CFR 5.147, defines rum as distilled spirits “distilled from fermented sugar cane juice, syrup, molasses, or by-products at less than 95% alcohol by volume, bottled at not less than 40% alcohol by volume.” That is the entire definition. It says nothing about color, age, country, still type or sweetness. The one type the section recognizes is cachaça, “rum that is a distinctive product of Brazil,” which may be labeled either “cachaça” or “rum.”
Two neighboring rules matter for reading labels. Under 27 CFR 5.155, “harmless coloring, flavoring, and blending materials,” caramel included, may be added to spirits up to 2.5 percent by volume without changing the class, and TTB requires label disclosure only for FD&C Yellow No. 5, cochineal extract and carmine, so caramel color in rum does not have to be declared. And under 27 CFR 5.151, a rum with added flavors becomes a “flavored spirit,” labeled by base spirit and predominant flavor (for example “spiced rum” or “rum with spice and natural flavors”), with a minimum of 30 percent alcohol rather than 40. A product with at least 2.5 percent sugar by weight is a cordial or liqueur (27 CFR 5.150), which has no minimum ABV at all.
Spiced rum vs dark rum
| Dark rum | Spiced rum | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Rum, with color from oak aging, caramel, or both | Rum with spices and flavors added, often with sugar |
| US legal class | Rum (27 CFR 5.147) | Flavored spirits (27 CFR 5.151) |
| Minimum strength | 40% ABV (80 proof) | 30% ABV (60 proof) |
| Typical strength on the shelf | 40% | 35% (Captain Morgan Original) to 47% (Kraken); Bacardí Spiced is 40% |
| Where the color comes from | Cask time and/or caramel; not declared | The base rum and, often, added caramel; Kraken’s label says “Natural Flavors and Caramel Color” |
| Does “dark” or “spiced” tell you the age? | No | No |
| Standard drinks per 1.5 oz | 1.0 at 40% | 0.88 at 35%; 1.18 at 47% |
The point most people miss is that spices do not darken rum. Spiced rums are dark because their base rum is aged or colored, or because caramel is added, exactly as with a dark rum. The spice is a separate addition. And the strength cuts both ways: the biggest-selling spiced rum brand in the US, Captain Morgan (4.12 million cases in 2025), bottles its Original Spiced at 35 percent, below the floor for plain rum, while The Kraken Black Spiced Rum is 47 percent, well above it.
Every rum label term, and what it actually tells you
Rum comes off the still colorless. Everything after that is cask, caramel and filtration, and the words on the label describe appearance and marketing category, not a legal standard.
| Term | Legal status in the US | What it usually means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| White, light, silver | None | Unaged, or aged and then charcoal-filtered to remove color |
| Gold, amber | None | Short cask aging and/or caramel |
| Dark | None | Longer aging and/or caramel; color does not equal age |
| Black | None | Heavily caramel-colored |
| Spiced | Flavored spirits class, minimum 30% ABV | Rum plus spices and flavors, often 35% |
| Flavored (coconut, pineapple and so on) | Flavored spirits class at 30% or more; cordial or liqueur below that | Usually a white rum base; check the ABV, many are well under 40% |
| Aged, añejo, vieux | None in the US; an age statement is optional but must be truthful if used | Cask-matured; Martinique’s AOC sets “vieux” at 3 years, Brazil’s rules set “premium” cachaça at 1 year |
| Overproof | None | Over 50% ABV (over 100 US proof) |
| Navy strength | None | Marketed at 57%; the Royal Navy’s actual issue strength was 54.5% |
| Agricole | EU-defined term | Rum from fresh cane juice, from the French overseas departments or Madeira |
| Cachaça | Defined type under 27 CFR 5.147 | Brazilian cane-juice spirit, 38 to 48% ABV under Brazilian law |
One consequence worth spelling out: a dark rum can be young and colored, and an aged rum can be filtered white. If you want to know how long a rum sat in a cask, the only reliable signal is an age statement in years, and in the US a producer does not have to print one.
Where rum words are actually regulated
Outside the US definition above, a few jurisdictions do write rules for specific styles, and they are stricter than anything on an American label.
| Rule | Raw material | Distillation and bottling | Color and additives |
|---|---|---|---|
| European Union, Regulation (EU) 2019/787, Annex I | Cane molasses, syrup or juice | Distilled under 96%; minimum 37.5% ABV | Caramel only, “to adapt the colour”; “shall not be flavoured”; sweetening up to 20 g/L |
| AOC Rhum de la Martinique (decree of November 5, 1996) | Fresh cane juice only | Column still, distillate 65 to 75% ABV, bottled at 40% or more | Blanc rested at least 6 weeks; élevé sous bois at least 12 months in oak; vieux at least 3 years in casks of 650 L or less |
| Brazil, cachaça | Fermented sugarcane juice | 38 to 48% ABV | Up to 6 g/L sugar (6 to 30 g/L must be labeled “adoçada”); “premium” aged at least 1 year, “extra premium” at least 3 |
| Jamaica, Excise Duty Act | Only cane sugar caramel may be used for color |
Cachaça’s place in US law is recent. On April 9, 2012, the United States and Brazil signed an agreement in which Brazil recognized bourbon and Tennessee whiskey as distinctive US products and the US agreed to recognize cachaça. TTB published the rule on February 25, 2013, effective April 11, 2013.
The regional styles you will hear about
Trade writers group Caribbean and Latin American rums by colonial heritage, and the scheme is useful for reading a shelf even though it has no legal standing. Spanish-style rums (“ron,” from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Venezuela) are usually column-distilled and lighter in body. English-style rums (Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana) are more often pot-distilled, heavier, and aged in ex-bourbon casks. French-style rums (“rhum,” from Martinique and Guadeloupe) include rhum agricole from fresh cane juice and molasses-based rhum industriel, and are often aged in ex-cognac casks. Wine Enthusiast’s rum guide uses this scheme; the only parts of it with the force of law are the Martinique AOC and the EU’s “agricole” definition above.
Overproof and navy strength
In the US, proof is twice the ABV, so anything over 100 proof (50 percent) is called overproof. The word comes from Britain, where the old Sikes scale set 100 degrees proof at 57.14 percent alcohol, which is where “navy strength” gin and rum at 57 percent get their number. The Royal Navy’s rum ration, though, was fixed on February 19, 1866 at 4.5 under proof, which is 54.5 percent, and it was issued at that strength until the daily tot ended on July 31, 1970, known as Black Tot Day. So 57 percent is the old definition of proof, not the strength sailors were given.
Two overproof bottles set the reference points. Wray and Nephew White Overproof, from J. Wray and Nephew (Campari Group) in Jamaica, is unaged, made on pot and column stills at the New Yarmouth distillery, and bottled at 63 percent. Bacardí 151, at 75.5 percent, was discontinued in 2016; Bacardi says “the responsible next step was to discontinue Bacardí 151 altogether” after concerns about flammability.
Common spiced and overproof rums, by the label
Producer sites unless noted. This is a reference for reading labels, not a ranking.
| Bottle | ABV | What the label or producer says | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum | 35% (70 proof) | “Premium Caribbean Rum With Vanilla, Spice And Other Natural Flavors” | Diageo |
| The Kraken Black Spiced Rum | 47% (94 proof) | “Natural Flavors and Caramel Color”; launched 2010 | Proximo Spirits |
| Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum | 46% (92 proof) per a US retailer listing; the producer site displays 40% | “Spiced Caribbean rum blended with natural spices” | William Grant and Sons |
| Bacardí Spiced | 40% (80 proof) | Aged rum “blended with natural flavors and spices,” charred American oak | Bacardi Limited |
| Wray and Nephew White Overproof | 63% (126 proof) | Unaged; pot and column still; Jamaica | Campari Group |
| Bacardí 151 | 75.5% (151 proof) | Discontinued 2016 | Bacardi Limited |
Standard drinks and calories
NIAAA defines a standard drink as 0.6 fl oz (14 g) of pure alcohol, the amount in a 1.5 oz pour of an 80 proof spirit. Rum’s range of strengths, from 35 percent spiced rums to 63 percent overproof, means the same shot glass holds very different amounts of alcohol. The formula is (fluid ounces x ABV) / 0.6. Calories are from USDA FoodData Central’s entry for 80 proof distilled spirits (FDC 174815, 97 calories per 1.5 oz), scaled by alcohol content for the other strengths; they do not include any sugar added to spiced or flavored rums, which producers do not publish.
| ABV | Example | Pure alcohol in 1.5 oz | Standard drinks per 1.5 oz | Standard drinks per 750 mL | Calories per 1.5 oz (alcohol only) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35% | Captain Morgan Original Spiced | 0.53 oz | 0.88 | 14.8 | About 85 |
| 40% | Bacardí Spiced, most white, gold and dark rums | 0.60 oz | 1.00 | 16.9 | 97 (USDA) |
| 46% | Sailor Jerry (US listing) | 0.69 oz | 1.15 | 19.4 | About 111 |
| 47% | The Kraken | 0.71 oz | 1.18 | 19.9 | About 114 |
| 63% | Wray and Nephew White Overproof | 0.95 oz | 1.58 | 26.6 | About 153 |
| 75.5% | Bacardí 151 (discontinued) | 1.13 oz | 1.89 | 31.9 | About 183 |
How big rum is in the US
DISCUS reports US rum sales of 19.4 million 9-liter cases in 2025, down 6.2 percent from 20.7 million in 2024, with supplier revenue of $2.08 billion (down 6.6 percent). Total US spirits sales in 2025 were 318.1 million cases and $36.4 billion. Impact Databank’s 2025 brand figures, reported by Shanken News Daily in May 2026, put Bacardí at 5.64 million cases, Captain Morgan at 4.12 million, Malibu at 2.08 million, Sailor Jerry at 470,000 and Kraken at 310,000. DISCUS’s most recent published split, from 2019, had flavored and spiced rums at over 55 percent of all rum sold.
A little history
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| February 19, 1866 | Royal Navy fixes its rum issue at 95.5 degrees proof, 54.5% ABV |
| 1944 | Captain Morgan brand created by Seagram in Jamaica; its spiced rum reached the US in 1984, Diageo bought the brand in 2001, and production moved to St. Croix in 2010 (VinePair) |
| July 31, 1970 | Black Tot Day: the Royal Navy’s daily rum ration ends |
| November 5, 1996 | Martinique’s AOC for rhum agricole is decreed |
| 2010 | The Kraken Black Spiced Rum launches |
| April 9, 2012 | US and Brazil sign the agreement recognizing cachaça and bourbon in each other’s markets |
| April 11, 2013 | TTB’s cachaça rule takes effect |
| 2016 | Bacardí 151 is discontinued |
Frequently asked questions
Is spiced rum the same as dark rum? No. Dark rum is rum colored by oak or caramel. Spiced rum is rum with flavors added, which puts it in a different legal class with a lower minimum strength.
Is dark rum stronger than spiced rum? Not as a rule. Plain rum must be at least 40 percent; spiced rum can be anywhere from 30 percent up. Captain Morgan Original Spiced is 35 percent and The Kraken is 47 percent.
Does dark rum mean aged rum? No. Caramel color is permitted in the US and does not have to be declared, so color tells you nothing certain about age. Only an age statement does.
What is the difference between white rum and dark rum? Color, which comes from cask time, caramel, or filtration. White rum may be unaged or aged and then filtered clear. Neither term is defined in US law.
What is overproof rum? Rum over 50 percent ABV (over 100 US proof). Wray and Nephew White Overproof is 63 percent, or 1.58 standard drinks per 1.5 oz.
What is navy strength rum? A marketing term for rum at 57 percent, the old British 100 proof. The Navy’s actual ration strength was 54.5 percent.
Is cachaça a rum? In the US, yes: since 2013 it is a recognized type of rum, “a distinctive product of Brazil,” and may be labeled either way.
Sources
- 27 CFR 5.147, Rum (eCFR), 27 CFR 5.151, Flavored spirits, 27 CFR 5.150, Cordials and liqueurs and 27 CFR 5.155, Coloring, flavoring and blending materials, checked September 13, 2026
- TTB, distilled spirits color ingredient disclosures, checked September 13, 2026
- TTB, Cachaça recognized as a distinctive product of Brazil, Federal Register, February 25, 2013 and DISCUS, US-Brazil agreement (April 9, 2012), checked September 13, 2026
- Regulation (EU) 2019/787, with Annex I as quoted at responsibledrinking.eu, checked September 13, 2026
- AOC Rhum de la Martinique specification (2019 English translation), checked September 13, 2026
- Cocktail Wonk, Brazilian cachaça regulations translated and Navy rum strength isn’t 57%, checked September 13, 2026
- Rum Wonk (Matt Pietrek), Rum additives: what key countries allow, checked September 13, 2026
- Difford’s Guide, Overproof and navy strength and Navy Records Society, The rum ration: the end of the tot, checked September 13, 2026
- Wine Enthusiast, A beginner’s guide to rum (regional styles), checked September 13, 2026
- Producer pages: Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum; The Kraken; Sailor Jerry (with a US retailer listing at 46%); Bacardí Spiced; Bacardi, The legend of Bacardí 151; Wray and Nephew White Overproof, checked September 13, 2026
- VinePair, 9 things you should know about Captain Morgan (March 29, 2024) and Wikipedia, Kraken Rum (launch year), checked September 13, 2026
- DISCUS, 2025 support tables (February 5, 2026), DISCUS rum category page and Shanken News Daily, Rum’s top players (May 13, 2026, Impact Databank), checked September 13, 2026
- NIAAA, What is a standard drink and USDA FoodData Central, distilled spirits 80 proof (FDC 174815), checked September 13, 2026
Saucey carries rum in every style on this page, including spiced, gold, silver and flavored, and delivers in as fast as 25 mins in the cities we serve. For the calorie math across spirits, see How Many Calories Are in a Shot of Rum.
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