I used few brands; Boots: very good, usually in summer used as a body splash and hair tonic, inexpensive. Pinaud's virgin island BR: very good as well but the scent is stronger and lingers long time(scent reminds me of minced pies, hence it suits winter). Boots and Pinaud Bay Rums are actually sold as hair tonics but can be used as aftershave, however talking from the experience, initially it burns especially if you didn't had a perfect shave.
The other brand is; Benjamin's mentholated BR; this stuff is really weak compared to Boots and Pinaud, it is more like just normal water with few drops of Bay Rum.
These are my experiences and opinions, some may agree some may not. Boots and Benjamins are cheap, there are lots of other brands. In the past I did had a bottle of Steve's homemade Bay Rum, personally it was my least favourite and used only little bit and swapped with something else on this forum, it did smelt like a Christmas Pudding.
Bay Rum is very popular and it has it's fans I'm sure other members would suggest and comment other brands.