This post may include affiliate links; see our disclosure policy.

This Rum and Orange Juice cocktail is sweet tart and delicious! A few secrets make it taste irresistibly fresh.

Rum and orange juice
Save this recipe!
Get this sent to your inbox, plus get new recipes from us every week!

Want a great rum mixer? Look no further than good old OJ! This Rum and Orange Juice cocktail is the way to do it. Sure, you can mix them straight up, which tastes pretty good. But we’ve got two secrets that give it a sweetness and a zing, making it an irresistibly delicious cocktail. We tasted it against a Brass Monkey, another rum and orange juice cocktail, and it was no contest.

Why pair rum and orange juice?

Orange juice is a popular cocktail mixer: it makes a Screwdriver with vodka, or a Fuzzy Navel with peach schnapps. You can actually mix it with almost anything: Whiskey and Orange Juice is just as good. Why pair rum and orange juice? The sweetness of the OJ melds well with the mellow, fruity rum.

A popular cocktail that pairs rum and orange juice is called a Brass Monkey, a bottled cocktail from the 1970’s and 1980’s. We tried it and honestly? It’s not our favorite. So we created a new spin with two secret ingredients that make it over the top delicious.

Aged rum

Ingredients in this Rum and Orange Juice cocktail

Want to make Rum and Orange Juice? All you need are those two ingredients…and two simple ingredients for some sparkle. Here’s what you’ll need:

  • Aged rum
  • Orange juice
  • Lime juice
  • Grenadine syrup

Just a hint of lime brings a tang, and grenadine syrup brings a sweetness and a bit of a rosy color. (If you don’t have grenadine in your cocktail collection, learn more about it in our Guide to Grenadine.) It tastes deliciously balanced and you won’t be able to stop sipping it…we couldn’t!

Variation: Rum Screwdriver

Here’s a variation on this drink: the Rum Screwdriver! Did you want to mix up only rum and orange juice? Because you can do that too. It’s not nearly as delicious: the flavor tastes pretty subtle. But if you feeling minimalist, it’s easy to make. Simply mix together:

  • 2 ounces rum
  • 4 ounces orange juice
Rum and orange juice

Use any type of rum

The type of rum that’s best when paired with orange juice is aged rum. The nuance of the flavor in aged rum makes the drink much more complex. But want to substitute another type of rum? You can, and of course it changes the drink. Here are our top choices:

  • Aged rum, aka golden or añejo rum, has notes of vanilla, coconut, almond, citrus, or caramel
  • Dark rum has a deep, caramel flavor and notes of cinnamon and spices (see Dark Rum Drinks)
  • Coconut rum is a sweet coconut-flavored liqueur made with rum (Malibu is the most popular)
  • White rum has a straightforward flavor rum with the signature fruity finish

More easy rum cocktails

You can mix rum with nearly anything! Outside of Rum and Orange Juice, here are some of our favorite mixers:

Save this recipe!
Get this sent to your inbox, plus get new recipes from us every week!
Print

Rum and Orange Juice

Rum and orange juice
Save Recipe

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

4.8 from 5 reviews

This Rum and Orange Juice cocktail is sweet tart and delicious! A few secrets make it taste irresistibly fresh.

  • Author: Sonja Overhiser
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 0 minutes
  • Total Time: 5 minutes
  • Yield: 1 drink 1x
  • Category: Drink
  • Method: Stirred
  • Cuisine: Cocktails
  • Diet: Vegan

Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 ounces* aged rum
  • 2 ounces orange juice
  • ½ ounce lime juice**
  • ½ ounce grenadine

Instructions

  1. Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker or cocktail mixing glass and stir with ice.
  2. Strain into a highball glass filled with ice. If desired, garnish with an orange wedge and cherry.

Notes

*To convert to tablespoons, 1 ounce = 2 tablespoons

**Don’t have a lime or grenadine? You can also make a rum screwdriver. Combine 2 ounces rum and 4 ounces orange juice.

Did you love this recipe?

Get our free newsletter with all of our best recipes!

About the authors

Alex & Sonja

Hi! We’re Alex & Sonja Overhiser, authors of the acclaimed cookbooks A Couple Cooks and Pretty Simple Cooking—and a real life couple who cooks together. We founded the A Couple Cooks website in 2010 to share seasonal recipes and the joy of home cooking. Now, we’ve got over 3,000 well-tested recipes, including Mediterranean diet, vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, smoothies, cocktails, and more!

Leave a Comment

Recipe rating 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

6 Comments

  1. Mona T says:

    I did not have aged rum, so I used white (Bacardi silver). It seemed pretty harsh, and all I could taste at first was the lime juice. I added a half ounce of simple syrup, and that changed everything. I’ll try it again sometime with aged, or at least dark, rum and skip the syrup to start.






  2. Jolynn L. says:

    Delicious 🤤 Made with a bottle of 15 year aged rum that was a gift from my boss. Cheers 🥂






  3. Greg Smith says:

    Made it and think that next time I won’t use the grenadine. I’ll probably do 2 oz. rum, 3 oz. OJ and 1/2 oz lime.






    1. Edd says:

      Made this with white rum-Brugal and I just added a very slim lime wedge. Nice.

  4. Linda says:

    Delicious drink. The lime adds a wonderful taste!






  5. Sonja Overhiser says:

    Let us know if you have any questions!