It's National Rum Day, people — and we're celebrating two dozen distilleries that are doing something unique with the spirit. Plus:

• A new favorite for whiskey lovers: It's not what you think.
• What's up in the wine industry? Your favorite vino is setting sail. Literally.

The 24 Most Interesting Rums to Try

For National Rum Day, we’re going to spotlight some brands and distilleries that may not offer the same mass appeal or ubiquitousness of, say, Captain Morgan (no offense; we certainly drink our share). Instead, while we do embrace some rum history here, we’re also looking at distilled sugarcane and sugarcane molasses-based spirits owned or crafted by women and/or BIPOC, rums that hail from unique parts of the world and rums that tell a different or unique story.

Of course, they all have to be quality rums, but the good news is that several of these excellent expressions are also quite inexpensive, if not always easy to find.

Yesterday, we asked if you wear baseball caps. Here's what you said: 

• Only 7% of you stick to wearing them backwards.
• 23% of you don't wear them. 
• 70% of you do.

Rolling Fork Is the Ideal Rum for Bourbon Drinkers

What we’re drinking: Two rums from Rolling Fork, an award-winning independent bottler based in Indiana.

Why we’re drinking these: RF co-founders Turner Wathen and Jordan Morris (who, interestingly, still have day jobs) came up with an ingenious idea in 2017 after home distilling in a garage — import some of the world’s best rums and pair them, at cask strength, with hand-selected ex-whiskey casks from some very well known and loved distilleries. So you might get, say, some Foursquare from Barbados (aka the Pappy of rum) in a cask that once held some very prized wheated bourbon.

The company has also started secondary aging rum in other spirits casks, including brandy and Calvados, as you’ll see here.

FOR NATIONAL RUM DAY

The Whiskey Lover's Guide to Drinking Rum

The Best Cheap Rums, According to Bar Professionals

The Rolling Stones Celebrate Their Caribbean Influences With a Rum

Everything You Know About Dark Rum Is Wrong

Why You’ll Probably Never Taste Appleton Estate’s Excellent New Rum

How the Wine Industry Is Uniquely Dealing With Its Carbon Footprint

When wine lovers want an eco-friendly wine, they typically reach for an organic or biodynamic bottle. While it’s true that grapes farmed and produced without toxic chemicals are arguably healthier for the environment and your body, it doesn’t mean they automatically have a lower carbon footprint. How that wine is shipped from the winery to your glass, as it turns out, almost invariably determines just how environmentally responsible it is.