In “The World’s Best Rum, Crowned With An IWSC Spirit Trophy,” Joseph V. Micallef (Forbes) describes Foursquare Distillery’s Equidem 14-Year-Old as “an opulent, double-aged spirit” and “a rum of extraordinary richness, balance, and complexity.” It was awarded the 2025 IWSC Rum Spirit Trophy as the best rum in the world.
In a field crowded with world-class contenders, Barbados’s Foursquare Rum Distillery has claimed the International Wine & Spirits Competition’s (IWSC) highest honor for rum. Its Equidem 14-Year-Old—an opulent, double-aged spirit—has been crowned the 2025 IWSC Rum Spirit Trophy Winner, earning 98 points and setting a new benchmark for rum excellence. Below is a brief background, along with my personal tasting notes and the IWSC’s comments on the world’s best rum.
The IWSC, founded in 1969, is globally recognized as one of the most rigorous and respected judging platforms for alcoholic beverages. Each year, a panel of experts blind-judges thousands of entries across all major spirit categories, awarding only a select few with the prestigious Spirit Trophy—an accolade reserved for the most exceptional, innovative, and technically brilliant spirits.
This year’s top honor in the rum category went to Foursquare Rum Distillery in Barbados, a producer celebrated for its integrity, craftsmanship, and cask experimentation. Over the last two decades, Foursquare Distillery has emerged as one of the world’s preeminent rum producers.
The award-winning bottling, Equidem 14-Year-Old, is part of the distillery’s acclaimed Exceptional Cask Selection series and showcases an adventurous dual maturation—five years in ex-bourbon casks followed by nine years in rare ex–Black Muscat wine casks. The result is a rum of extraordinary richness, balance, and complexity, recognized by the IWSC as the world’s best in 2025. [. . .]
For full article, see https://www.forbes.com/sites/joemicallef/2025/09/04/the-worlds-best-rum-crowned-with-a-iwsc-spirit-trophy/