Drinks Cabinet: Havana 7 Year Rum

Before you go buying exotically-flavoured gins and obscure liqueurs to fill your drinks cabinet, there are several staples that need buying. The four major spirits – vodka, whisky, gin and rum – need taking care of, and well.

But the trick with these ‘base’ bottles is to invest, but not so much that you’ll feel bad using them in cocktails or draining them at dinner parties. A collector’s bottle of single malt Macallan is out of this world, but you’d never never throw it in a Rob Roy.

The same goes with rum. This bottle of Havana 7 Year is better than the 3, not as good as the 15, but the perfect rum for such tipples as Dark ’N’ Stormies, Daiquiris and Cuba Libres. Deservedly popular, it is elegant, smooth and comes in a handsome retro bottle – just like the city from which it takes its name.