Your Top 3 smoothest Rum's

The perceived "smoothness" of alcohol like rum is often correlated to the following: * how light/heavy the rum is. The more a rum contains other volatile compounds that passed through the distillation that are not ethanol, the heavier it is by definition. These other non-ethanol compounds are called "cogeners", and some of them are strictly unwanted guests responsible for hangover and off-flavors, and some of them are highly prized for all those funky/earthy/fruity flavors that give rums complexity. The more perfect the distillation process is, the lighter is the distillate, so if you want light rums, you will want column still distillates distilled to high ABV. If the distillation is too perfect, the resulting product loses all character and cannot be called rum any longer - it becomes a vodka. The thing is that "smoothness" goes directly against "character and complexity" - one grows at the expense of the other. Luckily for you, smoothness is relatively easy to achieve by technological means. * how much sugar, glycerol and other additives the distillate contains - like monosodium glutamate in cooking, sugar and glycerol can mask flavor defects in alcohol and alter the mouthfeel, contributing significantly to how smooth she alcohol feels when drunk. The distillers know it and use them whenever they can get away with it. * how strong the alcohol is - weaker alcohol does not "scratch" in the throat (if you go far enough, water is super smooth ;-), which is why unscrupulous bottlers and blenders often bottle their rums with far lower ABV than declared - I have seen even bottles that contained as little as 28 percent ABV instead of declared 40, but in practice, 40 often goes to the 33 - 35 territory. The result? Super smooth rum, happy customers, and significant costs saved, because alcohol is much more expensive than water! To sum it up, I propose you an experiment - buy a bottle of barrel aged vodka like Starka, or Absolut Oak, add simple syrup according to taste (simple syrup is mixture of sugar and water 1:1 for quick dilution in drinks), and dilute the whole thing to about 30 - 35% abv, add a bit of food caramel to achieve darker, more "aged" and exquisite look (those elaborate bottles from French cognacs work well), and offer it to your friends. You will see they will be in high heaven - you can tell them that it's a remainder of forgotten casks from a sunk pirate ship that were so good that the captain did not want to enter the lifeboat and sunk with them, and you will create a tasting experience your friends won't ever forget!