Do you ever add water to your rum? Do you ever mix different rums?

Yes to both. I make Bumbo which calls for mixing rum, spices, and water. I think mixing aged rum is pretty fun. Kirk and Sweeney 18 (sweet rum) mixed with Ron Barcelo Grand Anjeo (spicier rum with a bite) tasted pretty darn good to me!

I have started adding a few drops of water to almost all the rums I sip after trying it initially straight up. I find most of the time I prefer a little water added as it opens up the flavors. Mixing different rums is a different league that I haven't tried yet, but I may start with the suggested mixed on this chain!

OK Everyone here is my secret. I mix sipping rums all the time. in several of my 1Liter Charred Oak Barrel's .Its always my favorite and best Rum .And It's never the same because as I tap rum from the 1st barrel I fill it with a blend of my 100+ rum's in my 2nd barrel .Then I fill #2 with the lucky rum behind my home bar.

Nothing wrong with that! I have a 3L for experiments and a 20L for let's just say "bigger projects.". :)

I mix rums all the time. When I get towards the bottom of a bottle, I pour it in my mix. I have a liter bottle (an empty El Dorado single barrel) and a 375 ml bottle. I often "water down" a below average rum with the last bits of some others. The end result is almost always an improvement over the below average rum by itself. Be careful, but try it.

I almost always add a few drops of water. I find it easier to smell the notes this way

Appleton 12 and Pyrat XO. 50/50 and on the rocks. I had a couple shots of both rums left over in their bottle and last night I figured, why not?

Bumping to get more mixing suggestions. I just mixed El Dorado 12-Year and Mount Gay XO and really liked the result. Less sweet than the El Dorado, more complex and "lively" than the Mount Gay (which seems to have lost something since I opened the bottle).

I enjoy mixing overproof rums such as Plantation OFTD with El Dorado Dark rum and Lemon Hart 151 with Newfoundland Screech, both on a 50-50 ratio. This brings the ABV down to mid to high 50s which is still fairly high but still drinkable neat.

I mix rums and also add a few drops of water. There is a chemical reason why adding a few drops of water brings out the flavors, but I forgot the details. Once I found out that my former beloved sugar bombs don't last more than four months, I added dry rum to each sugar bomb drink to reduce sweetness and to liven up the dry rum. If I scored a bulls eye with a certain mixture, then I combined the two rums in one bottle. Tiki drinks almost always have two or more rums, so this is nothing new. My most successful blend was 50/50 Don Q Gran Anejo and Don Q Anejo. The more expensive Gran Anejo was just too boring and the younger one had flavors without aging. This worked great! However, I won't buy their Gran Anejo again.

With rums and Single Malt Scotch, if they are a higher proof, I will add a teaspoon or so of water or an ice cube to my rum. Scotch, I never add ice, just water, as it degrades the taste and aroma. Plus, chill filtration is a bad thing in my opinion! Adding water to a higher proof spirit, like certain rums and Single Malt Scotches allows the various esters to become more pronounced while reducing the alcohols influence. For example, try a sip of a rum or scotch neat, then try it again after adding a splash of water. Often times, you can depict a change on the nose and taste, whether it be more floral or fruity influences, maybe more of a dried fruit as opposed to a ripe fruit taste. Experiment...

When I try different Rums I first sip them without adding anything, then I do add water to them, it's a trick I learned from Scotch drinkers as well. If the water is cool, it's even better. It helps bring out the flavour while reducing a bit of the burn in the throat. I have never tried mixing as I don't own so many bottles but I suppose it can be nice!

I came up with this rather bizarre combination after a few too many rum drinks. I had a half bottle of Lemon Hart 151 and a half bottle of Blue Chair Bay Banana Rum. Both were at least 4 months old and I was afraid of them losing their original flavors. The Lemon Hart 151 was only used for Tiki Toppers, but Plantation OFTD is much better. The Blue Chair Bay Banana Rum was only good for adding very small amounts to premium coconut rums and premium white rums for making ultimate tropical drinks. Once I mixed them into one full bottle, I was actually afraid to open it for several days as if to say, "OMG, what have I done?" After a few days, I finally got the courage to sample my new creation. Holy moly! This beats the living heck out of Bumbu and Bacoo rums with banana flavors! Try it on the rocks and you just may well like it! This also reduces the combined ABV to about 48%, which was my original intention. The final taste would wind up in my top 25 out of 127 reviews, but this combo cannot be purchased outright.

I somethings add a big ice cube to my rum sipping it like a glass of whisky. Have also tried mixing a sweet and a dry rum which made an excellent well balanced sip.

Casper: That is one of my favorite tricks for taming a sugar bomb. Just add the right amount of very good dry rum to it. The sky is the limit on these combos.