Ron Zacapa Centenario 23 Solera
Industrias Licoreras de Guatemala / Diageo (Ron Zacapa) · Zacapaneca, Retalhuleu, Guatemala
Ron Zacapa broke nearly every rule in rum-making. Start with the raw material: virgin sugarcane honey instead of the molasses most rum producers use. Then defy tropical aging conventions by aging at 2,300 meters above sea level, where cool mountain temperatures and higher humidity slow evaporation to a fraction of what it would be at sea level. Finally, use a solera blending system — borrowed from the sherry houses of Jerez — to marry rums aged 6 to 23 years across four different barrel types. The result tastes like no other rum on earth: rich enough to sip like Cognac, complex enough to hold your attention glass after glass. Voted the world’s number one premium rum at the International Rum Festival for five consecutive years.
Kit Aromas
Nose
Butterscotch, dark chocolate, dried figs, honey, toasted almond, and a faint whiff of leather and pipe tobacco.
Palate
Luxuriously smooth — cacao, burnt caramel, orange marmalade, ginger spice, dried fruit, and a creamy mouthfeel that coats the palate.
Finish
Long and warming with lingering dark chocolate, toasted oak, and a honey sweetness that fades gradually into dry spice.
- Base Ingredient
- Virgin sugarcane honey (primera, first pressing)
Cocktail Suggestion
Cocktail — The Guatemalan Old Fashioned: 2 oz Ron Zacapa 23 · 1 bar spoon demerara syrup · 2 dashes chocolate bitters · 1 dash orange bitters. Stir with ice 30 seconds, strain over a large ice cube. Garnish with an expressed orange peel. The solera complexity makes this an Old Fashioned that needs almost nothing else.
Food Pairing
Pair with: Dark chocolate truffles dusted with cocoa and sea salt. The rum’s cacao and butterscotch notes fuse with the chocolate, while the salt sharpens every flavor on both sides.
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