Zaya Grande Reserva 16-Year

Tried this at a nice jazz club in the San Diego Gaslamp District. Nice subtle flavor, smooth and fairly sweet, but not too sweet (IMHO).

A 6.5 on my scale. Partly for $21.99 price. A nice flavor straight and sweeter than I would have thought.

Another great rum from Trinidad. Smooth and opens up nicely

This is a one and done rum. As in you try it once and then you never have it again as long as you live.

The color is a nice golden brown, but once you taste it you realize 16 year old rum shouldn't be legal. It has a rubbing alcohol backdrop with sugar to make you think it is older

This has replaced the 12 year old bottlings just about everywhere I have looked recently... at the same price, it's a supermarket rum for those looking to step out from bacardi gold and into something to sip on its own. It is, like its younger sibling, a good introductory rum, but if you're going to expand your range and keep a bottle of this around, it's better as a mixer - something heavy on the sugar to use judiciously if you want to offset something strong on citrus.

Very nice rum with strong overtones of vanilla to separate it from the rest of the pack at this price point.

I read various review about Zaya, so during the Holidays, I purchased a bottle of Zaya 16. My expectations were to be something similar to Diplomatico Gran Reserva, but what I got was a mouth full of spices, and tart. I tried on ice, and not much improvement. Some of my friends liked it, but I guess this one is not for me. I left it with my friend to enjoy.

I tried this 16 year Zaya side by side with the 12 year old, and I found them to be quite similar. In fact, I really struggled to pick a winner.

Like the 12 year, this is fairly sweet with a good amount of vanilla and some butterscotch, which I actually find quite good. But those are the dominant flavors, and it's difficult to taste the underlying rum.

A very good smooth sweet taste. Not bad at all, but not worth seeking out if you can more easily find the 12 year.

Pineapple and vanilla come through almost immediately. One of the very few rums I’ve ever had with the pineapple aura. For the price this isn’t bad. Is this a “premium” rum? No...but for sipping without pretense it’s not bad: not great but not bad. It’s a B-. Just pour over a little ice and forget about the pandemic!!