How long lasts a bottle of rum?

I believe I’ve written this before in some discussion, but repeat it anyway. Some years ago I participated in a cognac course led by a Swedish TV profile and connoisseur together with the Master Blender of Grönstedts highly awarded Cognac. During that course I learned that a bottle represents one year before it’s opened. After it’s first opened one can tell how long time you have to finish it.  Two examples: If you drink 1/3 of it that first opening you have 8 months left to finish it. If you drink 1/2 of it that first opening you have 6 months left to finish it.  I don’t follow this slavishly but usually just make sure that I empty an opened bottle within a year after opening it. Besides this you have to keep it away from direct sunlight (also unopened) to keep it as tasty as it should be.

Curelin: The more sugar that is added to a rum, the less time that it will last in the bottle once opened. The sugar bombs will only last less than two months. These are the six most popular rums on this site, except for the Plantation XO, which is just plain sweet. Also, overproof rums with more than 50% ABV will last much longer and these never have added sugars as well.  Which four rums do you have?  I can look up the added sugar content for you.

Paul, I always look for how much added sugar there is in a bottle of rum before buying it. I hate drinking sugar bombs! Thank you very much for your kindness! anyway, at the moment I have the following opened: - El Dorado 12 years (yes, it has some sugar in it!); - Doorly's XO; - Appleton Estate Rare Blend 12 years; - Pampero Aniversario (the "share with everyone" bottle!).

You can drink them for at least a year depending on the remaining liquid in the bottle, as Stefan mentioned earlier. I've only had bad experiences with La Hechicera. It was bad after three months. After three years I drank a rum with 1/3 content in the bottle, it lost half of the aromas.

Curelin: Your El Dorado 12 has 35 gpl of added sugar, which qualifies it as a sugar bomb. At least this is what was added for the USA market, but may have been reduced for the EU. Your Pampero Aniversario has 16 gpl of added sugar which qualifies it as being semi-dry. Your other two are both bone dry because it is illegal to add sugar to rums from Barbados and Jamaica. Those two will last a very long time and are also repeat purchases for me..

Paul, in fact in EU we have a restrictive law for any substances added in food/drink product. I really hope that it has a lower content of sugar, even because my El Dorado 12 isn't more sweet than the Doorly's or Appleton Estate

Curelin: I recently tried a bottle of XM Royal Gold 10 Year that is from that same distillery as El Dorado, but it has no added sugar. I was not too thrilled with it. Not bad, but not memorable either. So according to the new EU law, your bottle of ED 12 cannot contain 20 gpl or more of added sugar, which makes it semi-dry at it's sweetest level possible. Gosh, I wish your ED 12 rums could be sent over to us across the big pond.

All very good advice. I would like to add that rum, like other spirits, does not go bad, but develops. What stage is most tasty depends on the drinker. It's very subjective. For example, I like El Dorado 12 much better after it has developed for some time. Appleton 12 also improved after some time in a half-full bottle.

rumtrinker: Consider yourself one of the lucky ones. It has been extremely rare for me that a rum improves in flavor as it slowly empties from the bottle. Since I buy mostly dry rums, most will stay the same by the time that they reach the bottom of the bottle. Most of the sugar bombs only got worse for me by the time a half bottle was left, so I no longer buy most of them. Dos Maderas 5+5 was my exception. Your case is unique, I must say! One sugar bomb and one dry rum each improving for you in taste as the bottles slowly emptied.