Ron Zacapa Royal

Collecting bottles of Zacapa to enjoy them in good times

Full body with long aftertaste! tested against XO and it is huge difference and bottle is super exclusive. Highly priced (250 Euros) but still must have👍🏻 the best rum for me so far. Zacapa deliver strongly with this bottle.

First of all: you need a Glencairn glas for tasting. The nose is much better in this glas.
In a rum tumbler it's not concentrated. And it needs 30min in the glas.
If you drink Zacapas take your time.

Tasted the Royal in comparison with 2019, Aniversario 30 and 2014 edition.
It tastes like the old zacapas. Intensiv, sweet and fruity, with wooden aromas.
It's not as good as the Aniversario 30. The 30 is more mature, more wooden and more fruity in the taste.
It's not as fresh as the XO. XO has a very nice balance between the matured and the young rums.
But Royal is more intensive and heavy.
It starts with caramel, burned sugar and dry fruits. The herbs are less present (same in Zacapa 30). The taste is not as heavy as 30 or Negra, but it's quite elegant. In the middle as it became warm I thought at some point, it's a little bit too sweet. From the sweetness I would say it's at the tip of the iceberg. Then I get some heavy flavours of the toasted cask (wood), but not as much as in the 30th.
I notice also a hint of cherries, this goes in another direction than other Zacapas.
The finish is not very spicy and sweet with caramel, barrel (wood) and dark fruits (not much herbs left).

A elegant and sweet Zacapa but too expensive for me.
2019 is more younger and also heavy, but has more mandarine in the taste. I think it's a good alternative. Buy the 2019 edition now, some years later it will be as expensive as royal I think.
Would rate it with 92 points.

Smell: caramel, herbs, sweet wood, dry fruits (raisins, plums, date), fig
Taste: caramel, burned sugar, herbs, sweet and toasted cask (wood), cherries, dry fruits (date), some, spice
Finish: long, sweet, caramel with barrel and dark fruits

Sweetness: 3.5/5
Fruits: 3/5
Spice: 2.5/5
Mildness: 4/5
Intensity: 3.5/5
Value (180€): 2/5
Experience level: professional

Aged: 8 to 30 years
Casks: Le Bois du Roy oak barrels

My favourite Zacapas Top 10 (I never tasted the old black label, Platino, straight from the cask and 2013, 2015 edition):
1. Aniversario 30
2. Royal
3. XO
4. Edicion Negra
5. Limitada 2019
6. Limitada 2014
7. Centenario 23
8. Ambar 12

A bit hard - ok nice rum but too expensive. The XO is a fine alternative.

Pleasure starting with aroma, goes over complex taste and ending in long aftertaste. But the differences vs XO you can tell only in direct comparison. Royal is a bit sweeter and a bit more complex with longer aftertaste. But the differences are so small, that it can't justify the double (or even more) price.
Anyway you should try the sample...

Enjoyed two glasses of Ron Zacapa Royal in Auckland NZ. Very nice high end bottle and label design. Dark mahogany color. Sweet notes mixed with plenty of oak from French Oak Cask maturation and a massive amount of vanilla to the nose and palate when neat sipped. Mild burn at the end being so sweet. Just ever so slightly smoother than Zacapa XO with 4 times the price.

We tasted the Zacapa Royal against the white and black label, the XO Anos as well as the Eldorado 25 1986 and Eldorado 1980. The Zacapa scores only in one: with the exceptionally beautiful bottle, the content for this price a joke, he is Spicy and strong though the Zacapa typical flavors harmonize with a pleasant not exaggerated sweetness. The my view after predominant young years dominate and let the Royal in the ratio look quite old. Absolute No. 1 at both testers was the black label, then the Eldorado 1980, then the white label, the Eldorado 1986 and then still the old XO Anos. Only in comparison with an XO Solera is the Royal one tick beser and at a 3 times price, simply ridiculous.Sorry for my perhaps bad english--))

virgin cane honey. half dry.
it is a 30 years solera rum. it was finished in french limousin oak.
the first thing I mentioned is the low amount of sugar. and thats great! I think less then 15g/l (its more dry then the limitada 13)
vanilla. cherry. peach. caramel. leather. almond. bitterness. woody. very long aftertaste. not a crowd pleaser. for a sweetend rum it is very good. much too expensive.
if you like sweet rums, thats not for you!
8/10.

More butterscotch then I’ve ever had in a nose, sweet, fruity, floral - it’s like a bouquet. Explosion of taste like very few others, maybe similar to Ambassador but more. Hazelnuts come through the most, some cinnamon and nutmeg, perfect balance of sweet and spice - neither too much. Long, beautiful finish. Complex yet easily sippable.

I bought this rum because i was impressed by the zacapa solera 23. Im still exploring new rums and like to evolve in my tasting.

The nose gives some caramel sweetness combined with some oak and A little fruity.

The first sip is quite firm and got some body. It had a slight to medium burn and some sweetness but not ascendant. Also some tones of oak are present.
The aftertaste releases some spices and holds some sweetness to it.

Its A good rum, but in my opinion there are equivalent quality rums to get for a better price.