@philvuchetich I've tried a few different brands of falernum syrup here in Toronto: the tastiest one I know of for this particular drink is the BG Reynolds stuff - https://bgreynolds.com/collections/frontpage/products/falernum - which I get at the BYOB Cocktail Emporium, though it's orderable online. The other ones I tried were also decently tasty but they tended to emphasize the lime or almond flavours rather than the allspice notes. This citrus/nut emphasis is quite pleasant on its own but not really necessary when I'm mixing a drink that adds a good portion of lime juice on its own!

I haven't tried making my own falernum yet but I think I'll give it a try sometime this summer. I don't personally know anyone who has done this yet, but I've had great success making my own syrups in general so I'm optimistic about the outcome.

As for brands of rum, basically anything with some funk to it should do the trick - this is one of those cocktails where you want a nice bold flavour to stand up to the lime and the spice from the syrup. In this particular drink in the photo I happened to use an Appleton Estate Signature, but really there are any number of good options out there. We're spoiled for choice!