Tastes

The smell coming off this is rich and complex. There's first a hint of fruit, like being in a farmers market in summer, then there's the rich smell of hand made chewy caramels with walnuts. Over a bit of time, the aroma opens up more, offering raisins, and figs. There is a green wood smell, like splitting fresh cut logs that haven't been seasoned. First impression, caramel, burnt brown sugar, orange zest, and a nice warming sensation. It's not overly sweet. There's a richness akin to Amontillado, or some other medium sweet sherry. Even sipping this, I go back to the nose, it is magical. There is a fruit juice quality to this that I've only gotten from Irish whiskey, and some Speyside Scotches before. The oak tannins give a pleasant bitterness, and impart a vanilla, and toasted oak depth. The finish is like the cracked top of crème brulee, charred sugar, and caramel. At the end, just after swallowing, there is a taste of a perfectly ripe banana. This one doesn't have overwhelming notes of baking spices, there is some allspice, and ginger. I read one review that said this was the "single malt of rums", I have to agree, it's not about the strong molasses notes, or throwing the spice cupboard at you. This is balanced, there's lots of fruit, there's oak, and there's even some malt. As someone coming to rum from whisky, this is so familiar, yet refreshingly different too. If it were slightly higher proof, this would be damn near perfect. 95/100

The bottle has such a nice heft and feel to it, the cork is synthetic which is great, but the topper is dark wood with a brass embossed cap. Super classy, I dig it. Ripe bananas, grilled pineapple, coconut sunscreen, magic marker (in a good way), flan, burnt caramel, and molasses. Wow, this nose just keeps going, and there is so much to unpack. First sip, it's dry, not anywhere near as sweet as the nose implies. Warm spices, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, allspice, a chili pepper bite too. Further tastes, the bananas, and vanilla come on strong. Burnt caramel covers the tongue, with a slight bitterness, and a richness with molasses, brown sugar, and nutmeg. The finish is oak, and white pepper corns, as well as chili pepper. The cloves and ginger linger for a long time. You really can pick up age on this, it has such depth of flavor, and the barrel is a strong background to every other note. There is a bitterness that I love in aged bourbons, that I haven't found in rum before, at least not this deep and complex. I love this stuff, and going forward will likely try and always have a bottle on hand. 93/100

Ok. Ron Zacapa 23 has become a very polarizing rum, in that a lot of people don't consider it "rum", rather they think it is a rum liqueur; is that fair? I don't know. I'm not an expert in any way, and while I can read reviews, and comments from "experts", I am not going to pretend that I can add anything to that discussion, I do wish that Zacapa was transparent in their process, I would like to know what is added to the rum. As I am not pretending to be an expert, I am going to simply talk about my thoughts and impressions of the tasting experience. The rum is room temperature in the glass, but smells like warm molasses cookies. Ginger, brown sugar, molasses, orange zest, allspice, cloves, vanilla. A sip brings a different experience than the nose, there is more bitterness and wood flavor than I picked up. There's burnt caramel, vanilla, and yes, molasses, allspice, cloves, brown sugar, all the other things from the nose. The finish unfolds over a fairly long time. The sweetness fades, there is a tingle like cloves, and then the sweet and bitter bite of burnt caramel. I haven't experienced enough rums to know where this stands compared to others, but I can say that I enjoy the experience. This is a worthy rum to sip on, to smell, to taste, to let it linger, to enjoy. If you are in the camp that feels that Zacapa is fake rum, that it has too much sugar added (I've seen as high as 44 g/L, and more commonly 23 g/L), that the flavor is tuned by adding dunder (I don't actually think that is true), and the biggest complaint is the 23 on the bottle. No, it is not a 23 year old rum, it is solera blended rum from 6 to 23 years old, so probably mostly 6 or 7 year old, with very little of the actually old stuff in it. Ok, again, I would like transparency, but I also do like the way this tastes. 90/100

Ok, I’m not going to pretend to have a lot of experience or deep knowledge of rum, or Cachaça, as a spirit. I am capable of looking up information the same as anyone else, and while this is a new area of exploration to me, tasting and analyzing spirits isn’t new. So, I came to cachaça as a category of rum, despite those who insist that it isn’t rum. I smell something weird. You know how people tell kids that they can become anything that they want? This rum was told that, and decided that it was gonna be tequila. (Not really, but it is vegetal) Sweet, lime juice, way overripe oranges (verging on rotting), fresh mown wet grass, vanilla, and some acetone. First sip, sweet, thin, some sour tartness. There’s a greenness to this, like the taste in your mouth after using an industrial weed trimmer, bitter like dandelion greens. The finish is mouthwatering, peppery, and vegetal. The green taste is present here too. There’s also something like biting into a lime. I haven’t had another cachaça other than Cachaça 51, so my rating is based entirely on my taste. 70/100

This smells interesting. There's an ethanol twinge at the start, but then there's lots of overripe banana, molasses, and what I suppose must be the "Jamaica Funk". It's kinda like the sweet and tangy smell of barbeque. Taking a sip, molasses, burnt sugar, banana, nutmeg, and allspice. Grapefruit peel, with the pith on. The finish is quick, leaving a pleasant gingerbread taste. Further tastes, the gingerbread is pronounced, so is banana. Burnt molasses, and maybe licorice? This is something that I like quite a bit.

First off, I like this bottle. It is classy, and I like the raised sugar cane on it. The nose isn't very pronounced, but it is nice. It is warm, and rich, like fruit cake, or maybe I just smell the allspice, cinnamon, cloves, citrus, and rum when I have fruit cake? Taking a sip, it is surprisingly like fruit cake, there's dried citrus, there's cinnamon, cloves, some ginger, raisins, immediately on the front of the tongue. There is a tannic note to the finish, evidence that it has spent time in oak barrels. The wood note amplifies the citrus oil characteristics from earlier. It isn't too thin, has a nice texture, and while the finish does linger for a while, giving a nice warm spice, overall the experience is over fast from sip to sip. I don't have the experience to really determine objective quality, but I can say that this seems well done to me, and I like how it isn't overly sweet.

You know that green banana smell, when you break the peel on a still slightly underripe one? That’s the first thing I pick up. There’s a hint of other fruit in there too, but I can’t really place what. I get ripe red bell pepper too. A hint of brown sugar. There’s a taste of bananas too, and a tingling like chili pepper. Warm brown sugar, and orange zest. Now the nose opens up to caramel, which is on the next sip too. But slightly burnt caramel, with some bitter bite to it. The finish is astringent, drawing moisture from your lips and cheeks, and tingling still. The next taste has something reminiscent of Sharpie or Magic Markers, not in a bad way. Yup, it’s like a slightly burnt, green banana, and Sharpie caramel, and I’m here for it.