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Ron Zacapa XO Rum is produced in the highlands of Guatemala where it is distillled from fresh cane juice. The rum is then aged from 6 to 23 years at 7544 feet above sea level at 62 °F (17 °C) using the solera process. The solera aging process incorporates barrels that previously held American whiskeys, sherries, wines and Cognac
The unique Ron Zacapa XO glass decantur features an impression of a woven band around the middle, which is in reference to the original hand woven palm leaf petate bottle cover that covered the bottle
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Posted
over 8 years ago
Smooth and very well balanced with vanilla, marzipan, oak, caramel and honey aroma. Long aftertaste, a little bit too sweet for me but waiting so long to taste it and it's was great experience. Must be part of your collection ! Real rate = 8,5
Posted
almost 9 years ago
This rum has a very nice smell of oak, cognac, and caramel, and the taste follows the nose. It's nice, but to me it's not quite on par with some of other top rums I've had as I think the cognac aging is a bit much and takes away from the rum slightly. But if you enjoy cognac, then perhaps you'll like this even more than I did.
Posted
over 9 years ago
First of all.. The bottle.. I´m a sucker for nice bottles.. This one tingles my nervs.. It beautiful..
Nose : Nothing at all to complain about.. Nice dark tone to the smell.
Taste : The thickness of the taste.. It totally fills your mouth almost like drinking sirup..
Finish : A long and strong finish all the tones fade away apart from each other and opens up in your mouth.. Perfection in a bottle..
I must say that i was surpriced when i tried this one out.. Since my first Zacapa was the awful Solera 23 i didn´t have any hopes up.. But a friend of mine had a few bottles and he told me to buy one cheap.. If i did´t like it i could always sample the rest of the bottle he told me.. Well.. One zip and i realised that i would never sample a drop from that bottle and hide it when we had guests.. ;)
Posted
over 9 years ago
Got it from a friend who went to Guatemala. Love this rum! My collection is not that big yet, but this bottle made it definitely in the very top league.
Way too expensive for what it is, was actually happy when it ended.
Low ABV, feels diluted and bitter
Posted
almost 3 years ago
This is my Zacapa Centinario XO. Mild in taste, nice aroma, but absolutely not worth the price in my opinion. To vomi 1011: I was unable to post photos in Discussion.
Posted
almost 6 years ago
I have also tested the “23” and the “Royal”, but I like this one best. It’s more powerful and has a deeper taste than the others.
The sweetness is well balanced and it’s very smooth and len. You can recognise vanilla, dried fruit as well as different spices.
Posted
7 years ago
Zacapa 23 is one of my favorites and the XO takes it to another level. Smooth and delicious. Can be over priced so look for bargains. Beautiful color, scent and smooth taste.
Posted
almost 9 years ago
Excellent sipping rum. Very smooth and a pure delight!
Posted
almost 9 years ago
This rum is so different from the rest if the Zacapa family. Heavier, it does not have the classic alcohol aftertaste. Love it.
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Not quite a 9
7
/10
out of 10
Since I did not have much luck at all with their Zacapa 23 Solera, I was hesitant to plunk down about $90 US on a bottle of this. I tried to sample one pour at a few rum bars, but they were all out. So I walked into one of my favorite liquor stores this morning and this black box just begged me to take it home. My curiosity can be quite costly at times.
My bottle is of the newer design as shown in the photo. When poured into the snifter, it is a reddish mahogany color. The inside of the black box mentioned all of the different casks that were used for aging, including red wine. It supposedly has 26 gpl of added sugar and it's viscosity in the glass shows. Rums of between 6 and 25 years were used in the blend. The aroma is like a fine perfume. Too many complex flavors meld together in harmony, but are dominated by caramel and wood.
The closest rum that I would compare it to is Plantation XO 20th Anniversary at slightly less than half the price. No surprise here, since both are partially aged in cognac casks. As expected, Ron Zacapa XO is a few shades darker than the Plantation XO. Both have complex flavors, but the Plantation is more of fruit while the Ron Zacapa is of wood. If you blindfolded someone to test them side by side, I doubt anyone could tell which one is more expensive. It looks like I won't be buying Ron Zacapa XO again, but I still rate it as a 8. It is just not worth another $90 from me.
I started out ranking this rum as my third overall favorite, right behind Dictador XO Insolent and Dictador 20. Therefore, it starts out with a rating no higher than a 9 (which wound up back down to an 8). However, since it is heavily sweetened, I expect the flavors to change in the bottle over the next few weeks. Blame Christmas Eve and finishing off this bottle after only two weeks to show me it's excessive woody weaknesses.
Update June 14, 2020: I know that I had stated that I would buy no more of this rum, but after finishing a major photo scanning project during the pandemic lock down, I rewarded myself with another bottle of this rum since lots of concert refunds paid for it. Guess what? It lasted all of 5 days! But due to it's fancy bottle and heavy sugar dosing, this really should be reserved for guests who do not know anything about rum. I am now ready to knock my rating down to a 7.