🥃 Malibu

Malibu is a coconut-flavoured drink based on Caribbean rum, made from rum produced at a distillery on a beach in Barbados. It is 21% ABV, so under EU rules it is not rum but a liqueur with rum and coconut flavouring. Pernod Ricard, which has owned the brand since 2005, presents it as a flavoured rum brand and as one of the world's leading flavoured spirits.

The producer's page describes Malibu as a staple in cocktails such as piña coladas and daiquiris. It gives no details of how the brand was created, so they are not given here.

The composition of Malibu Original on the Pernod Ricard page: Caribbean rum (a distillate of molasses or sugarcane), water, sugar and a flavouring with coconut extract. It is 21% ABV; per 100 ml the producer gives 188 kcal and 18.1 g of sugar.

The range: Malibu Original (coconut), Malibu Watermelon (Caribbean rum, water, sugar, natural flavouring and citric acid; 162 kcal and 11.4 g of sugar per 100 ml) and Malibu Passion Fruit (Caribbean rum, water, sugar and natural flavouring; 163 kcal and 12 g of sugar per 100 ml). All three are 21% ABV and contain 16.6 g of alcohol per 100 ml.

Why this matters to you. A bottle of Malibu may be called a flavoured rum, but in the EU rum must be at least 37.5% ABV and unflavoured, while Malibu is 21% and contains coconut extract. The liqueur is sweet because it contains sugar. So replacing rum with Malibu in a recipe will change both the taste and the strength of the drink. The WHO reminds us that no level of alcohol consumption is safe.