Guatemala Rum

Guatemalan rum is soft, sweet rum made from virgin sugar cane honey rather than molasses, aged in the volcanic highlands of Quetzaltenango, and nearly all of it comes from a single producer, Industrias Licoreras de Guatemala. Virgin sugar cane honey is juice from the first pressing of the cane, heated and reduced to a syrup: not molasses and not fresh-juice agricole, and part of why the rum tastes so soft. The country's calling card is the Sistema Solera, and the same producer makes both of its big names, Zacapa and Botran.

Ron Zacapa is by far the most famous Guatemalan rum, the soft, sweet Solera blend that made the country's rum known, with the Zacapa 23 as its reference bottle (our full Zacapa guide breaks down the 23, XO and 30). Its quieter sibling is Botran, the same Solera school, led by the Botran 15. The older, more structured expressions, the Zacapa XO and 30 and the aged Botran reserves, bring more age and cask depth: start soft and sweet, then move to the older, deeper bottles as your taste shifts.

Guatemalan rum is made to be sipped neat, at room temperature, in a tulip glass or over one big cube, and it makes a natural after-dinner pour. It also works in a rum old fashioned, but skip it in sharp, citrus-led cocktails where the sugar fights the drink. A light chill tames the sweetness if you find it too rich.