The Top Rums from Central America

Ron Zacapa 23 Sistema Solera Rum was first produced in 1976 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Guatemalan town of Zacapa. It's a rum made from raw sugarcane honey grown on the Zacapa estate high in the hills of Guatemala, extracted from the first pressing of sugarcane juice. It is then fermented using a proprietary strain of pineapple yeast and distilled in a copper-lined column still. After distillation, the rum is aged in a Solera process from a series of casks which once held bourbon, oloroso sherry and Pedro Ximenez sherry. The rums in the blend vary between 6 and 23 years of age.

Ron Abuelo is produced at Panama's Varela Hermanos S.A. distillery in Pesé. 12 Años is selected from rums aged in ex-bourbon and white oak barrels, which benefit from the effects of the tropical heat. It should be noted that the distillery was the first in Panama to stop the practice of burning sugarcane fields before harvest and are committed to other green/eco-friendly initiatives.

Distilled from Costa Rican sugarcane, the rum is then aged in used bourbon barrels. It is blended using the solera method with 20-year old rums being the oldest part of the blend. The rum has a pleasant mahogany color with copper hues.

This a Panama rum aged that is initially matured in ex-bourbon barrels, then finished for an indeterminate amount of time in white oak sherry casks. It is bottled at 40% ABV.

Flor de Caña was founded in 1890 near the base of San Cristóbal Volcano, the highest and one of the most active volcanoes in Nicaragua. The brand's rums are produced from molasses from estate-grown sugarcane. American white oak barrels formerly used to age bourbon are used to age the rum. The 18 listed on the bottle isn't an age statement, but rather indicates an average of the rums used.

Located in the Cihuatán Valley of El Salvador, this rum brand was founded in 2004. Using a 100 year-old sugar mill, their rum is column-distilled from molasses and this Indigo bottling was aged for 8 years in American oak ex-bourbon barrels.

Copalli Rum was launched in 2019 by marine conservationist Todd Robinson and Anya Fernald, CEO of restaurant and butcher shop chain Belcampo. An organic rum, it’s made on the grounds of the duo’s Copal Tree Lodge in Belize. The sugarcane used to make Copalli Barrel Rested Rum is sourced from the surrounding rainforest. It is then juiced, distilled twice in pot stills and aged in used bourbon barrels before being bottled at 44% ABV.

Botran Rum is a single estate rum which uses two varieties of sugarcane which are harvested on the Pacific south coast of Guatemala. The first press of sugarcane (aka virgin sugar cane honey) is used for distillation rather than traditional molasses. Botran uses “dynamic aging” which is a variation of the solera process. For the No. 12, rums aged 5-12 years are blended that have matured in American whiskey and sherry casks. Notably, Botran has a Protected Denomination of Origin (PDO) and is certified as a Ron de Guatemala. Botran was relaunched in the US in August 2022 with updated packaging. ($24.99/700ml).