Botran Solera 1893 18-Year

This is similar to the Zapaca, but maybe not as refined and rounded. Still, it is a great pour which I would recommed to fans of Zacapa.

A rum with an honest approach. The nose is decent, offering slightly sweet and dry notes of molasse, dates, caramel, vanilla and oak, but it lacks a bit reffinement. The medium bodied palette has a distinctive oaky character, but supplements this with lightly sweet molasse and dried fruits, giving a decent balance. There's a medium long aftertaste, consisting mainly of deep rounded oaky notes.

This one was a good one.. Great suddle nose, In the mouth it was lean, almost like a thick whisky.. With some burning sensation.. The finish is one of the longest i have experienced.. Full with complex tones that explodes and slowly fades away.. Great for a cold evening to sip on..

Ce rhum élaboré à base de miel de canne, en fait un pur jus réduit en sirop, est un modèle d'équilibre, de délicatesse et de rondeur. Il pêche justement par son manque de relief mais il reste riche. Très agréable, il est parfait pour déguster avec quelqu'un qui n'est pas habitué aux alcools forts ou pour se détendre avec un bon rhum "facile".

Une couleur généreuse et ensoleillé...très ron en bouche, des aromes de bois épicés sublimes, je ne regrette vraiment pas mon choix !!!

For my it is not a typical Guatemala rum. I expected more sweetness and less spicy notes, but this has a taste like an agricole rum. Spicy, harsh and the alcohol attacks from behind after you swallow it. Not great, not terrible.

Very nice rum. Would definitely drink again........

I expected something clearly better than its 30 dollar cousin

Vanilla, hazelnut, spices in aroma; decent sweet, wood, cinnamon and clove; tail is not interesting.

I really liked the bottle of Botran 15 I had before this, so I had pretty high expectations on getting this bottle. The bottle itself is absolutely gorgeous. The rum is very straightforward and honest without added sugars, as you would expect from Botran, and it's good stuff to take neat.
It's just, for the price and the presentation, it really should be a noticeable step up that it just doesn't quite pull off. It probably embodies the criticisms of solera aging marketing because it probably is almost the exact same thing as what's in a bottle of the 15.