Rum is the broadest category in the shop, and this calendar shows exactly why. Twenty-five 2 cl bottles, from a Martinique agricole that smells of freshly pressed cane to a Jamaican Hampden whose esters jump straight out of the glass. Anyone who thinks rum is sweet will have changed their mind within twenty-five days.

The selection travels through some fifteen origins across the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, Asia and Africa. Big houses like Hampden, Neisson and Planteray sit next to names you rarely come across: Mhoba from South Africa, Chalong Bay from Thailand, Clairin Vaval from Haiti. The difference between molasses rum and rum made from fresh cane juice becomes properly tangible here. Strengths run from 40% to 57%, and every bottle comes with an online masterclass behind a QR code.

The box is bright red, in the same papercut style: palms, sugar cane, a column still, a sailing ship and a caiman, with Le Monde des Rhums — Académie III along the edge. Inside the lid there's a text per region — the Caribbean, Latin America — listing which bottles come from there. It turns twenty-five separate bottles into one story.

The twenty-five rums

• Black Tot Finest Caribbean — Caribbean, molasses rum, 46.2%
• Chalong Bay Rum — Thailand, pure cane juice rum, 40%
• Clairin 2022 Vaval — Haiti, pure cane juice rum, 53.3%
• Dictador 12 Years — Colombia, molasses rum, 40%
• Hampden 8 Years — Jamaica, molasses rum, 46%
• Hampden Great House Distillery Edition 2024 — Jamaica, molasses rum, 57%
• Karukera Rhum Vieux Agricole — Guadeloupe, rhum agricole, 42%
• Kirk & Sweeney Reserva — Dominican Republic, molasses rum, 40%
• Mhoba Bushfire — South Africa, pure cane juice rum, 55%
• Mother Mesccia Pure Single Rum — Monaco, pure cane juice rum, 47%
• Neisson Le Rhum par Neisson — Martinique, rhum agricole, 52.5%
• Neisson Soubwa — Martinique, rhum agricole, 49%
• Pampero Aniversario — Venezuela, molasses rum, 40%
• Papa Rouyo Le Rejeton — Guadeloupe, rhum agricole, 56%
• Planteray Rum 5 Years Barbados — Barbados, molasses rum, 40%
• Planteray Rum Gran Añejo — Guatemala & Belize, molasses rum, 42%
• Planteray Rum Mister Fogg Navy Sail N°2 — Caribbean, molasses rum, 55.7%
• Planteray Rum XO 20th Anniversary — Barbados, molasses rum, 40%
• Rest & Be Thankful XO Caribbean Rum — Caribbean, molasses rum, 40%
• Rum Nation 6 Years Mauritius Triple Cask — Mauritius, molasses rum, 43%
• Rum Nation 8 Years Barbados — Barbados, molasses rum, 40%
• Rum Nation Demerara Solera N.14 — Guyana, molasses rum, 40%
• Shakara 15 Years — Thailand, molasses rum, 46.2%
• Takamaka Kreol Cask — Seychelles, molasses rum, 40.3%
• Veritas — Caribbean, molasses rum, 47%

How I'd drink it

Neat, at room temperature, in a tulip glass — at these strengths ice breaks more than it builds. Put the two Neissons side by side on the same evening and you'll hear straight away what agricole is about. And save the strongest bottles for the weekend: 57% asks for more time than a weeknight allows.

What to do with it

Two centilitres won't make a cocktail, but it will make a tasting flight. Line up three bottles from the same region and taste them blind — with the list beside you, that's an evening's entertainment. Split each bottle if there are two of you. And write down one word a day: by the end of the calendar your own taste profile is on paper, and you'll know which full bottle to take home in January.

Origin and facts

• 25 bottles of 2 cl, 50 cl in total
• Rum from some fifteen origins across the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, Asia and Africa
• Rhum agricole, pure cane juice rum and molasses rum in one box
• Strengths from 40% to 57% vol.
• Online masterclasses by QR code with every bottle
• Box: Le Monde des Rhums — Académie III, with a text per region inside the lid
• Spirits are not sold to anyone under the age of 18.