Taste Testing Ron Zacapa's First Ever Private Blend Rum (Bottled for The Rum Cartel)

Ron Zacapa celebrates its 50^th anniversary this year. We had the opportunity to join in the festivities with Master Blender Lorena Vásquez and our friends, The Rum Cartel.

Zacapa is one of the reference points people reach for when they want to explain what a rich, sweeter-styled Central American rum tastes like. It was created in 1976 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the eastern Guatemalan town of Zacapa, which lies some 112 kilometres away from the country's capital. The town itself, whose name derives from Aztec to mean "on the river of grass", has a real sense of being rather historic with its old school charm, and walking around the town's square almost feels like stepping into a portal into the past. Elevated to some 225 metres above sea level, the town boasts little in the way of tourist attractions (although it does offer some artisanal cheeses and cigars), and yet itself remains a critical node for Guatemala - Zacapa sits as the junction for the Guatemala City railroad out from neighbouring El Salvador. Yet it is here that the Botran family had decided to build the Zacapa Distillery.

The Botran family plays a prominent role in shaping the spirits distilling scene of Guatemala, borne of five brothers whose parents were of Spanish descent and had immigrated from Spain to Guatemala in the early 1900's. The five Botran brothers had together established the Industria Licorera Quetzalteca (later Industrias Licoreras de Guatemala, or ILG) in the western Guatemalan town of Quetzaltenango in 1939, at a time when rum distilling was largely then a mom-and-pop operation. Their much more structured approach and dedicated effort had thus raised the standards of rum making in Guatemala and has since allowed the country to actively produce rums of an international standing.

The Botran family today.

And so the ensuing decades saw the Botran family focus on producing their namesake rums, which in the Spanish style is better known asrons, which emphasises warm and comforting aromatics of florals and spices, with a lifted and more easy going, smoother texture, rounding out the usual punchiness. This was a big hit domestically and allowed the distillery to grow along the years, till the point of fully integrating their process from sugarcane growing and harvesting, all the way to the making, ageing, and bottling of the rons, with a particular emphasis on the blending process. Taking a page from their Spanish heritage, and also somewhat core to the Central American Spanish style ron flavour profile, the rums are blended into a cuvee using the Solera method.

The Solera system at Zacapa.

The Solera method is most commonly used in Spain for the making of Sherry fortified wines, where barrels are stacked in layers upon layers, with the oldest wines in barrels on the ground, with each successive layer atop holding younger and younger wines - every time wine is drawn from the barrels in the lower levels, those same barrels are topped up with slightly younger wines from the layer above, almost in a sort of waterfall cascade flow downwards. This helps the wines (or the rums in this case!) marry more harmoniously and achieve an incredibly silky and velvety plush texture and flavours that are practically seamless like nectar. Call it the perpetual cuvee that's never allowed to run dry and is constantly replenished atop its base. Now for added flavour, as Zacapa does, some of these rums are taken out of this Solera system to be aged in more exotic casks, such as barrels once holding Bourbon, Sherry or Cognac. Once these rums have aged and absorbed some of the flavours of these barrels, it is then returned to the Solera system to once again marry with the perpetual reserve, bringing to it more unique flavours. Zacapa calls this Sistema Solera.

The mineral rich volcanic soils prove great for sugarcane harvesting.

And so by 1976, with Botran already well-established locally, the family thus expanded into creating Zacapa. If Botran was about the family's heritage in distilling, Zacapa would focus more on expressing its Guatemalan terroir.

And this all starts with extracting what is believed to be the purest form of cane essence - the juice from the first pressing of the Guatemalan sugarcane. Sugarcane is first harvested from the Retalhuleu fields in south Guatemala, where the mineral rich volcanic soil proves highly conducive for growing sugarcane with a depth of flavours. The juices from the first pressing of the cane is then simmered down to a honey like consistency, which Zacapa termsSugar Cane Honey. Fermentation is done very uniquely with the use of pineapple yeasts, which further adds to the rum's unique flavours. Finally it is distilled using column stills, as is in the Central American practice.

The House Above The Clouds where Zacapa's rums are aged.

But really now comes the showstopper - once distilled, the rums are brought up 2,300 meters above sea level to Zacapa's ageing cellars, this raises the rums above the clouds where they'll age amidst the cooler and more humid ambient environment. Zacapa has a rather romantic name for an equally romantic setting for its ageing cellars - theHouse Above The Clouds. Here in highlands of Quetzaltenango of western Guatemala, the rums spend years in the fresh mountain air, married gently with the Sistema Solera method under the mindful watch of Master Blender Lorena Vasquez. Just to add to that sense of provenance, Zacapa's classic bottles come with a nice little touch of Guatemalan craftsmanship, in the form of a handwovenpetateband that adorns the bottle - now this used to cover the entire bottle in the early days, but has since been thickened and streamlined to a band around the base of the bottle that's a lot more stylish and modern.

The Rum Cartel Private Blend

There is a tidy symmetry to our story as this rum born to toast a town's centenary has now hit a milestone of its own as it turns 50 this year.

Our friends at The Rum Cartel – a private member’s club built around discovering premium rums and sitting on one of the region’s largest rum collections – managed to talk Zacapa into its first-ever private blend. We had the opportunity to taste this, and to also sit through a tasting with Master Blender Lorena herself who shared with us her process of blending this very special expression.

Before selecting the casks, Lorena worked with The Rum Cartel to decide on a bespoke character for this blend. Then, she chose 5 casks from her warehouse aged between 15 and 35 years, spanning a range of casks types including ex-American whiskey, French oak, and ex-sherry casks including Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso, with the oldest rums being mostly held in the ex-sherry casks. This is then bottled at 48%. Frederic Langlois who runs The Rum Cartel shared with us that there is currently only a small handful of bottles reserved for members.

Rum Review: Ron Zacapa Private Blend bottled for The Rum Cartel, Cask No 01, 48% ABV

Tasting Notes

Colour: Deep, burnished mahogany.

Aroma: Rich and syrupy, with a herbal edge and savoury base. Opens with caramel and molasses with a pronounced glossy dried red-fruit note, with cranberries, macerated cherries and dried dates. A little further in there is brown sugar, treacle and a twist of orange peel leading into a green, herbal lift, fresh mint. Some savoury, leathery tones, a whiff of toasted marshmallow and walnut if you sit with it.

Taste: Layered and concentrated, noticeably more power than the soft, sweet entry of a regular Zacapa with pronounced spice and an almost apothecary herbal edge. The French oak seems to offer a real grip, moderate tannins that hold structure without drying the mouth out, and a broad band of oak spice running down the middle. The dried dates and stewed cherries carry over into the palate, and I also get some chocolate-dipped candied orange peels, sweet-bitter citrus, pith and all. Around that some ribbons of cured tobacco, clove, anise and a dusting of cinnamon, a crack of black pepper, while the core remains to be a chewy, date-like sweetness. A cooling streak cutting across the richness with menthol mint, herbal lozenges. The tannin, oak spice and cooling notes keep the sweetness in check.

Finish: Very long with a gentle warmth on the back of the throat. It gradually turns darker and more roasted, dark chocolate and espresso taking over from the sweeter mid-palate with a faint maple edge behind. The menthol and spearmint continues in a cooling rush along with liquorice-adjacent notes and baking and oak spices trailing off underneath.

My Thoughts:

This brings significant power and structure to an unmistakably Zacapa frame. The sweetness is still there, but the oak spice, tobacco, chocolate-espresso and cooling herbal notes step forward, the tannins firm up, and the whole thing gains so much grip and length. The higher strength also seems to allow the oldest, most sherried casks to reveal much more of their character.

You cannot buy this one directly. But if the idea of tasting rums like this, and sitting across from the people who make them, is what you are after, that is what The Rum Cartel exists to do. They’re worth a look if you want to be in the room the next time a bottle like this gets opened.

@CharsiuCharlie