Ron Zacapa XO

One of my favourite sipping rums - even better if let sit in the glass for a while before drinking. However indont think that much better than the 23yr to justify price. Also excellent poured on your xmas pudding at christmas if you want to be indulgent!

It ist truley a Rum of perfection, the taste is very round. But i think What it makes a great experience is the way it goes from sugar plant to Rum. A great Story and at least why its so expensive

Tried it neat first, then with ice. I liked it better with the ice. Great color and quite smooth. The after taste is the best, I detect oak and something wonderful that I can't describe. I should have started with a less expensive one but I had to try this. Highly recommended!

Le rapport qualité prix est vraiment nul. Ça ne vaut clairement pas 100 balles. Même si je l'adore. Très suave, caramel, chocolat.

Kvalitny aged rum, sladsi, vyrazna chut. V tejto cene mi ale viac chuti Millonario XO

Tout se passe en douceur
Chocolat noir, fruits secs, caramel, vanille et épices.
La finale se laisse apprécier longuement...
Un de mes meilleurs rhum à vie

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.

Brown sugar, toffee, spicy oak, cedar and pipe tobacco.
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Wonderful with a classic taste.
Not overly sweet.
Better than Zacapa 23 which is already a great Rum.

I have been drinking the 23 year old Zacapa for years and last year I bought 5 bottles of XO thinking it would be amazing as it was a lot more expensive than the 23 year old Zacapa. It was just OK - not that impressed with it and not a taste I care for too much... Pity, as I expected a LOT from it.

First experienced this fine drink around 10 years ago, had it in stock since then. Great taste, very smooth.