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Trinidad and Tobago | Aged | 40% ABV | Column Still (5+) Distilled
Zaya Gran Reserva Rum is a blend of molasses-based rums distilled in a five-column still and aged in white oak barrels for up to 12 years.
Zaya rum was initially distilled by Industrias Licoreras de Guatemala in Guatemala. The brand was acquired in 2008 by Infinium Spirits and is now produced in Trinidad and distilled by Angostura.
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Posted
11 years ago
Aromatic notes of vanilla, caramel, with hints of banana and cocoa.
The palate is an initial taste of vanilla, cocoa and brown sugar, with a medium-sweet bodied with hints of oak and orange spice.
Posted
almost 6 years ago
After reading a post on the discussion board about how Zaya has become undrinkable swill under new ownership, I finally opened a bottle I had picked up last year while on vacation at what I thought was a great price of $25.
i have to say I agree 100% with the guy who made that post. This stuff basically tastes like vanilla extract. I found an unopened bottle stashed in my cellar of the old stuff with real palm leaf wrap around the neck, and though it is a sugar bomb it at least tastes good. The new stuff either has a paper wrap around the neck or a metal screw top and collar. My newer bottle has the metal, but according to the guy who wrote the post the paper wrapped bottles are terrible too.
I have heard this rum was awesome back in the days it was from Guatemala, unfortunately that was before I got interested in rum. The garbage stuff says "a blend of 12 rums" in the little round label on the bottle instead of "aged 12 years" on the older bottles. Classic bait and switch, avoid the newer bottles. I wouldn't buy this again at any price.
Currently my favorite rum. It is a little sweet, with flavors of vanilla and caramel. Perfect for a dessert sipper. Do not waste as a mixer, drink this one neat. Great rum to share with friends after dinner. For $37 this is a steal.
Posted
9 years ago
Sugar: 20 gpl. Lot's of reviewers liked this rum, but I did not finish the bottle I purchased while on vacation. It's a smooth rum with a nice finish but the Vanilla aroma and flavor dominates it from start to finish. I tried it on ice and in mixed drinks but could not come to liking it enough to finish the bottle or to even think of adding it to my collection. I would not buy this rum as there are better rums in this price range.
Posted
over 9 years ago
This was a quite wonderful dram. The vanilla sweetness hit my taste buds first but didn't overpower a complex, bitter, chocolate nuttiness at all. Long and pleasant finish. Sip this neat and appreciate the craft!
A must have in your collection a golden to copper brown color nice vanilla scent nice barrel flavors with vanilla tones with a smooth finish.
Posted
10 years ago
Vanilla flavor is too dominant for my tastes. Very smooth and very little after burn. A pretty good sipper.
Posted
over 1 year ago
Bottle purchased in Crete several years ago. I’m rating the old Zaya 12 year (note bottle neck in photo) before Diageo bought them and ruined this rum. Pours a very dark brown. Aroma of butterscotch and molasses. Mildly sulfur and sweet. Bananas and chocolate. Such a pleasantly mild palate with a pronounced vanilla. This was a great rum back in the day.
Well it has suffered some degradation with ownership making poor choices...
Posted
over 5 years ago
All reviews from before 2016 should be ignored - this is now a distinctly different and much lower quality rum than it was previously.
The original Zaya was the rum that got me into sipping rums. Every time I finished a bottle I would get a new one. It was fairly sweet with a taste of vanilla and caramel. If you can still find a bottle where the label has cursive writing on it and there's a wicker sleeve on the neck, buy it.
At first when the logo changed, I was skeptical. The font change on the label wasn't bad, but the sticker that used to proudly proclaim "Aged 12 Years" now read "Blend of 12 selected rums". The neck was no longer covered in wicker and the cork had been replaced with a screw off cap. The taste is *very* different. It still has flavors of vanilla and caramel, but they aren't as rich as they used to be. The rum doesn't taste aged at all, as the change from 12 years to 12 rums suggests. It's still good as a mixing rum, but I wouldn't suggest it for sipping.
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Update (3/2018):
Got to try one of the older bottles with grass around the neck and the script-style logo. Just how I remembered it—vanilla, coconut, banana, sweet. Even this version wasn't good, though it was an eye-oper to me as my first "sipping" spirit.
Update: (4/2017):
Wow, having been paying closer attention to retail prices for this bottle of late, they really seem to have plummeted. It's not unusual to see it going for $23USD. I think that's commensurate with what's inside the bottle—or, at least, what we know is inside the bottle, which is very little. This tells me that the makers are capitalizing on the brand reputation they've worked to establish over the year, have drastically reduced production costs (presumably with a blend of younger/inferior rums), and are now going after a (much) larger, lower-end market segment.
And it should do well there. I think for many this bottle would still be a huge step up for their rum game, but it's still just a rung on the ladder; a reference point; nothing to stick with. At the expense of exactly one "I'll drink to that!" I'm letting go of some of the sentimentality I have for this vanilla-banana liqueur and docking it one point.
Update (12/2016):
Yes, the packaging has changed, and not for the better. What's inside is still very good, but not quite as smooth or flavorful as the previous incarnation. I do think it's still a decent value, if you can find it in the USD $30–35 range (I've seen it online for much higher). If you're a fan of the "old" version, now's the time to track down the remaining bottles! And if you have your doubts about the new one, might be time to spring for something a little higher. Cheers!
Original (~2011):
This was the first sipping rum I ever tried, long before I was even a novitiate. I had no expectations. Imagine my surprise when I first smelled the banana, vanilla and caramel. The flavor profiles in this rum are very distinct, and can easily transport you to another place. (Perhaps this contributes—along with good old-fashioned marketing—to such a wide price range for this product, compared to other aged rums.) In the mouth, it's sweet, and oh-so-smooth.
The bottle is nice and heavy, with a straw lattice around the neck [edit: womp, womp...]. Looks good on the shelf (if the shelf is tall enough) and feels good in the hand.
I'd rate it higher if I were a bigger fan of vanilla and banana aromas (which I think most people are), but still, it's a solid bottle.