Not Bacardi, Not Captain Morgan: The World's Best-Selling Rum Has Been Around Since 1854

Rum, the distilled spirit made from sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice, is the ingredient in many of our favorite cocktails, from mojitos and daiquiris to cool and refreshing piña coladas. Many Americans probably assume ubiquitous Bacardi or Captain Morgan would be the world's best-selling rum, but you'd be wrong. 

That honor belongs to Tanduay, one of the oldest rum producers in Asia. Founded in 1854 during the Spanish colonial era, the brand's name evolved from the Tagalog word for "peninsula" or "low-lying land," which described their local surroundings. Thanks to the Philippines' long history of cultivating sugarcane, there was plenty of raw material to work with.

According to The Business Spirits” top 10 best-selling rum "Brand Champions" list, Tanduay was named the best-selling rum of 2025 for the ninth year in a row. What surprises many people is that Tanduay's incredible sales have long been driven by the Philippines domestic market. The brand is deeply embedded in the local culture and is especially popular because of its familiarity and affordability. Even Anthony Bourdain took shots of Tanduay when he visited the Philippines in 2015, along with calling this Filipino dish the "best thing you could ever eat with a cold beer." For many, Tanduay is the unofficial national spirit of the Philippines. In a Reddit forum, one user recollected: "Tanduay is popular where I'm from. When I was a kid, that's what the adults in our area drank. They just used water as a chaser."

Another user recollected: "When we were just starting to work, aside from gin, Tanduay or Empi were our go-to drinks with my friends whenever we felt like drinking and our payday was still far away." But cost alone doesn't explain its popularity. Many drinkers genuinely prefer the taste. Flavor-wise, Tanduay tends to be sweeter, smoother, and more approachable than other rum options. The brand's export products, like the Tanduay Gold, are usually marketed toward international rum enthusiasts, while their domestic products focus on affordability and mixability. 

There are many different types of rum, and Tanduay offers several options, including spiced, silver, gold, and overproof. Overproof rum is often used in cocktails like a Painkiller and Zombie to cut through sweetness of other ingredients. Unsurprisingly, Tanduay dominates store shelves and local bars in the Philippines, but the company has expanded aggressively over the last decade. To date, the rum is now available in 50 countries, including here in the United States. You'll have the best luck landing a bottle of their rum in areas with large Filipino communities, like California, Texas, and Hawaii.

While many rum aficionados tend to focus on Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, or Martinique, Filipino rum has quietly outperformed them all in global sales. If you're interested in exploring more of the country's spirits, another Filipino rum to consider when you want to elevate your cocktails is Don Papa. For many Filipinos, rum is an everyday, casual social spirit, not a luxury product to hoard away.