Ron Esclavo XO

Beautiful simple bottle. Lovely dark color.
First smell from the bottle - Very sweet vanilla, sugar, caramel, grapes and prunes.
In the glass - Lovely dark color and wonderful legs. Looks very rich, similar to Zarcapa XO.
Nose - Molases, malt, conac, vanilla, coffee and caramel.
Taste - Sweet and woody. Lots of oak. Sugar cane, caramel coffee and chocolate. Nice long creamy finish with a hint of coconut. Fills out the mouth really nicely.

A very nice rum! From the top of the shelf and quite affordable. Lovely nuances in both taste and nose. Defiantly a keeper, and a “re-buyer” for me.

I found this to be a great rum. One of the best values there is (after the Ron Centenario 20 which is cheaper and even better imho).

Super easy drinking and smooth for 42% abv. Smells and tastes of molasses, toffee, caramel, burned sugar, honey, cinnamon, spice, and just a hint of orange.

A fabulous rum that is a VERY high 9!

What an neat tasty rum. Honey sweet thik caramel vanilla woow doesn't give that burn at the end. One of my favourite

Så god, men straight from the cask er bare så meget bedre. Prøv den også.

Best of Esclavos, smoothest, deep color. But e.g. Opthimus 21 from same company is tastier.

A little bit too sweet for me. But it has nice full body and tasteful.
I think it is good rum for after dinner.

:-)
nice smell.
nice Colour.
Nice taste.
Nice aftertaste.
;-)

For me one of the best rums I have ever tasted. Very smooth sipping run, beautiful nose and balanced honey taste.
Plus the beautiful reddish color in a great bottle, 10 from me.

On the nose you get sweet aromas of vanilla and fruit. When the rum have been breathing for a while in the glass the aromas gets even smoother.

In mouth you get smooth flavours of vanilla and caramel. You can also taste a bit of oak and spice. This rum is very sweet, in a good way. The aftertaste is very smooth with a little bit of oak and spice.

I nice rum but maybe a little bit of too much oak for my taste.

All I can say is wow! After well over 800 aged rums later, what an amazing find and what a big surprise. Ron Esclavo XO comes from the Oliver & Oliver group, so that does not surprise me a bit since most of their rums are simply stunning. The Ron Esclavo XO has a very deep color, such a blast of coffee aromas to the nose and my my what a treat to your taste buds. Coffee, chocolate and toffee have an amazing balance. No burn at all at the end, it is super smooth. This rum goes directly to my top 10 list. It is much better than the Dictador XO Insolent which has a similar flavor profile, but it's nowhere close this good.

Detailed scoring analysis:
10/100 Packaging, bottle and label design 9
10/100 Color of this rum 10
15/100 Nose test 14
20/100 Palate test 20
15/100 Afterburn of this rum 15
15/100 Availability to purchase this rum 11
15/100 Ultimate value for money 15
Total score 94

Here's my top 30 list:
1. Ron Tres Loco de Vinos from Vinoble Skanderborg
2. Ron Esclavo XO Cask Strength
3. Legendario Gran Reserva 15y
4. Cubaney Centenario 25-30y
5. Companero Panama
6. Ron Esclavo XO
7. Ron Millonario XO and 15y
8. Plantation Barbados XO 20th Anniversary
9. El Dorado 25y
10. Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva and Single Vintage
11. Presidente Marti 23y and 19y
12. Cubaney 18y
13. Pusser's 15y
14. Black Tot
15. El Pasador de Oro XO
16. Bavaro Black Ultra Premium
17. Punta Cana Esplendido
18. Edmundo Dantes 15y
19. Pampero Aniversario
20. Bacoo 12y
21. Ron Esclavo 15y and 12y
22. El Pasador de Oro Gran Reserva
23. Brugal Leyenda
24. Exquisito 1990 and 1995
25. Koloa Kaua'i Coconut
26. Plantation Gran Anejo Guatemala & Belize
27. Unhiq XO
28. Ron Hero 21y Solera
29. Punta Cana XOX
30. Ron Cartavio XO

Nice dark color with coffee, butterscotch, toffee and caramel flavor. The alcohol is present at the first nose and disappear gradually. There is some notes of chocolate, cocoa and nuts. This rum is round, warm with a medium finish.

This rum is fantastic for this price. Great aftertaste. Full body aroma in my nose. Smart choice.

Máme tu další rum z Dominikánské republiky, tentokrát Esclavo XO, který zraje systémem solera až 23 let. Což znamená, že 23 let má jen ta nejstarší složka ve směsi. Čeští vychytralí, v lepším případě pouze špatně informovaní prodejci se vám budou snažit nakukat, že jde o rum třiadvacetiletý, samozřejmě jim to nevěřte. Viz třeba dobrůtka.eu, nebo slepě kopírující heuréka, případně další obchody, které kopírují lživé a zkreslené informace od jiných.

Alkohol: 42 %
Původ: Dominikánská republika
Aroma: Sladce hutný a bohatý styl, nasládle kořenitý, medový, medovinový, lékořicově skořicový, s nádechem hřebíčku, lehce i kůže, i s nezbytnou větrovostí. Nic, co bych neznal, nic originálního a neotřelého, ale zase nutno uznat, že voní zatraceně dobře. (92 b)
Chuť: Pěkně poladěná vůně s chutí. Sladkost asi tak 50-60%. Takže dostatečně sladký, ale ne nějak brutálně, tohle není A.H.Riise. Stylově mi připomíná Quorhum, zkusmo jsem si pro srovnání nalil jeho patnáctku a Esclavo je o dost dál, sladší, výraznější, zajímavější. Ještě aby ne, však je taky znatelně dražší. (92 b)
Body: 92
Shrnutí: Výtečně vyladěný rum, pochutnal jsem si. Měl jsem 50 ml miniaturu.

From the first drop into the glas to the last, bloody marvelous! The dark brown color, the smell and OH the taste. Sweet, caramele, honey, dried fruits... ALL the good things are in this bottle... ALL OF THEM!

Helt klart min favorit som sipper- rom. Dejlig sød og rund i smagen og en super flot farve. 10/10

Wow!
This is some good stuff.
So smooth and round with lots of sweet carmeltaste. You'd never guess it's 42% when tasting.

helt klart den bedste af esclavo flaskerne.
har noget mere at byde på end de to andre flasker.

Ron Esclavo XO Rum blander sig mellem de bedste fra Den Dominikanske Republik. Smuk farve og tilpas sødme.

super god sød og kompleks rom med et lille exstra spark. Helt oppe ved mange af de store rom i min bog. Lækker

I was looking forward testing this Rum! it is one of top 10 tested Rums at Swedish site Romrom.se and scored 9,2 out of 10 points. It is produced by one of my favorites Oliver & Oliver on Melass and Solera model up to 23 years. Nice smell of honey and syrup. The 42% takes down sweetness and takes forward more clean tastes. Strong aftertaste! Round and good. After new test I would like to upgrade this from 9 to 10👍🏻

Havde hørt meget godt om denne Rom. Så jeg glædede mig meget til at smage den.
Først gang blev jeg skuffet! Men anden gang, Vav, det var straks bedre.
Lækker duft, sød på den gode måde, og en rigtig god eftersmag.

One of last years absolute stunners! In that price range it is some of the best I have ever tasted. Sweet, silk-soft and so well balanced.! Fat body and a nice warmth to it!

Considering the price, this is some really good stuff. It's characteristics and quality is pretty close to another great dominican rum, the Quorhum 30 Aniversario. The nose is full with notes of caramel, coffee and chocolate. The palette is big bodied with ripe notes of sweet brown sugar, coffee, leather, wood and spicy tingles in a nicely rounded package. The afterburn is a sweet, long and creamy, warming sensation. To me the slightly more expensive Quorhum 30 still comes out on top though, with better complexity.

...I enjoyed a sip of this rum today at my local rum store.

The smell was a bit alcoholic yet not unpleasant.

The taste is a sweet with a fruity plum aroma. Nice caramel colour, just the bottle looks a bit cheap and simple.

Solid 8.0