It’s national rum day. So that’s fun. It’s also good and hot outside, so I suggest you celebrate both things by having a rum cocktail.

Here are my three favorite sorts of rum cocktails, and where to get them.

1. A daiquiri. I know what you’re thinking, but a daiquiri need not be a frozen sludgey sugarfest. A true daiquiri is rum, superfine sugar, and lime juice. That’s it! And a daiquiri is to good rum as a Manhattan is to good bourbon or rye—that is to say, it is an excellent vehicle for sampling the spirit. Pick a rum you want to try at Spur—lovely Marley works Monday evenings, she’ll make you a great daiquiri.

2. A dark and stormy. My sister married an Australian, which—let me tell you—has made for some really, really debaucherous family holidays. When someone in your family marries an Australian, everything changes. That’s all I’ll say about that, except for this: I have learned to love dark and stormies (rum, gingerbeer, lime), and like anyone who has spent any amount of time with the Aussies, I can shotgun a can of Bundaberg without blinking. I’m not bragging, I’m just saying.

But don’t do that. Go get yourself one of these delicious highball-style cocktails at Ocho in Ballard or at 611 Supreme on the Hill.

3. Punch. People, punch is not just about Kool-aid and rainbow sherbert, delicious as those things are. Many cocktails emerged out of the punch bowl, and there are a number of delicious punches featuring rum. Planters punch is a fun drink to order at the bar because each bartender has his own version of what a planters punch even is. Erik Carlson is working tonight at Moshi Moshi in Ballard. Go talk to him about rum punch. You won’t be sorry.

Final note: are you into sipping rums? I recently attended a LUPEC Seattle event at which the aforementioned Marley from Spur taught us all about rums. We sampled many, many, many, and I fell in love with a few.

But I wanted to recommend especially the Pampero Aniversario, a crowd-pleasing aged rum that’s imported by Diagio from Venezuela and sold at some Washington liquor stores.

My notes about this rum, written—it must be said—with bit of a rum buzz on, say: “Toffee, butter, rich. This, reduced + banana pancakes=big-time heaven.”

So…there you have that. Happy national rum day.