William M. Dowd photos

Unless you've been busy all year searching out and sampling different spirits with an eye toward which you'll be giving friends and/or loved ones as holiday gifts, it probably is too late to do much research  now.

Luckily for you, I haven't been shirking my duties.

Beginning today, and running over several more days on a category-by-category basis, I'm offering my suggestions on which items will make nice gifts.

Today, we're beginning with rums. They fall into two distinct categories: agricole, which is the spirit made from fresh-cut sugar cane, and industriale, the spirit made from molasses created by boiling down the cane.

DIPLOMÁTICO RESERVE BLANCO RUM

This ultra premium spirit was introduced to the global market last fall at RumFest in London. It has gotten excellent notices, with gold medals in a variety of competitions that still value gold rather than awarding it simply to attract more paid entries.

Diplomático is made in Venezuela by Destilerias Unidas, which utilizes three pot stills and four column stills to produce nearly 50 different rum recipes. It also produces Cacique rum and is the major spirit producer for the Pampero blend.

Everything except this Diplomático Blanco is made from molasses. It is distilled from sugar cane four times, filtered five, and mellowed in white oak casks but catches none of the color from the wood.

The nose instantly offers up light floral notes with a vague promise of pineapple. On the palate we begin to notice elements of vanilla, cream and a touch of spice that is at once velvety and peppery.

The finish is long, warm and rich, with a tropical taste of coconut and banana. Excellent structure and layering, making it a fine sipping rum.

Suggested retail price: about $30 for the 750ml bottle.

RON ATLANTICO PRIVATE CASK RUM

This Dominican gem is a blend of several small-batch dark rums. But, it is more than that.

The blend then is placed in small, used bourbon barrels -- the "private cask" in the name -- and the marriage is made for another year or two. But, it is more than that.

After that aging step, the rum then is placed in another set of barrels and aged from 15 to 25 years.

What results is a complex rum appealing to eye, nose and palate. The classic flavors from rum's sugar base -- caramel and molasses -- are immediately evident, quickly followed on both nose and tongue by the bourbon barrel notes of vanilla, butterscotch and oakiness.

Ron Atlantico, which I tasted with simply a cube of ice to help open it, is smooth and warm while at the same time bold and assertive, giving your palate something to mull over. The longer one swirls the sample and allows it to continue opening, the more vanilla comes through. However, at no time was the sweetness out of balance.

Suggested retail price: about $35 for the 750ml bottle, each one numbered.

A QUARTET OF CRUZANS

The family-run Cruzan distillery on the Caribbean island of St. Croix (the label is pronounced krew-zhun and is the word for an island native) holds its tasting in a converted 19th Century carriage house on the Cruzan complex. I tried this as part of a multiple-brand blind tasting of lower-priced rums.

• Cruzan Estate Light (about $13): A gentle nose with honey and applesauce notes, then elements of caramel, vanilla and sweet apple in the mid-range and finish.

• Cruzan 2-Year Dark (about $14): Here we moved into softer, more refined fragrances of brown sugar and tropical tastes of coconut and pineapple. A very agreeable product.

• Cruzan Single Barrel (about $28): Vanilla, almonds and allspice all compete in the nose, but the taste is dry, soft and Scotch-like with a hint of orange. Very nice sipping rum.

• Cruzan Black Strap Navy Style (about $18): This two-year-old is flavored with dark molasses, and that's what comes through in the nose and in the initial taste. It quickly softens, and coffee elements come through, leading to a long, smooth finish.

NEXT: Scotch, bourbon, vodka and more to be published  in the coming days.