Ron Zacapa XO

Men inte mycket bättre än 23an. Helt klart godnatt sippa

Fin rom men jeg havde egentlig forventet mere. Synes der er flere der er noget bedre, specielt når man kigger på prisen

Lots of flavours, incredibly smooth. Hardly any burn at all, my favourite sweet/sugared rum.
Would have loved to try it without the added sugar, as I believe the rum could actually be good!

Really enjoyable sipper, managed to get it duty free so not too bad on price but plenty out there half the price or less which are just as good.

Nie je hodný tej ceny ,za tie peniaze mám 3 lepšie rumy!

Sweet
Sherry notes

Udemærket rom. Synes dog den mangler noget over hele linjen for at være en top top rom

Ve vůni cítím hlavně karamel a citrusové tóny.Chuť uhlazená, méně výrazná. Převážne karamel doplněný o velmi slabé ovocné tóny v dochuti. Sladký rum ale ne přehnaně. Rum jsem rád ochutnal už kvůli té krásné láhvi, ale opětovná koupě za tu cenu určitě nebude. Chuť pro mě je taková až moc neutrální.

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.

Smells amazing at first, with notes of hints of caramel, cinnamon and dates. Has a bit of burn down the pipe but give it a while because the long lingering spicy aftertaste is good.