Aroma visualization from community tastings
Ron Zacapa Sistema Solera 23
If you're newer to rum and like things sweet and easy, this is the bottle most people cut their teeth on. Caramel, vanilla, chocolate and a little dried fruit over a soft, rounded body, with oak in the background. The honest knock: it's clearly sweetened, light on complexity, and the 40% alcohol can poke through. Many call it a "great sipping rum for beginners."
- Smooth and rounded
- Caramel-vanilla sweetness
- Easy for beginners
+10
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Buy Ron Zacapa Sistema Solera 23:
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How does Ron Zacapa Sistema Solera 23 taste?
Aggregated from 1,390 community reviews.
Sweet, soft caramel-vanilla starter rum Loved as an easy, sweet starter rum; caramel, vanilla and chocolate over a soft body. Enthusiasts find it sweetened, thin and one-dimensional, with the marketed "23 years" widely questioned.
Beginners who like sweet, soft, easy-sipping rum
Anyone avoiding sugar or wanting dry, complex rum
How is Ron Zacapa Sistema Solera 23 rated?
RumX's 0–10 scale is strict , 7.4 lands squarely in the "Good" band. 56% of tasters rate it Good or better; only 8% rate it below average. See the full rating guide →
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Rum reviews
Selected write-ups from 1,390 community ratings. You can view the complete list in our app.
Based on 1,390 ratings
Review by Konstantin Precht
One of my all-time favorites, good for beginners who had their first sweet rum and want something a little more interesting. Creamy vanilla, caramel, and some wood on the palate with a nice finish that could be a bit longer. Good daily sipper but not very complex.
Review by LukaŽiga
8:On the nose it initially gives a bouquet of brown sugar, it reminds a little of a chocolate or caramel/toffee sauce for ice cream or desserts, red, tropical fruits, raisins are there, also a feeling for the aged rums in the blend with a little oak and cocoa coming through. 8,5:Upon tasting, the rum is not as sweet as expected. The nosing suggested it could be as sweet as some older El Dorado rums with much more sugar. . The Zacapa 23 is actually not as dry as XO, but it is oaky, buttery, vanillia, a note of coffee expresses itself. The flavour builds if you leave the rum in your mouth for a little longer allowing it to coat the palate. You then get some of the cocoa flavours, caramel and a little bit of tropical fruit, raisins-sherry finish present. 8,5:on the finish the rum is very smooth and has almost none aftertaste or alcohol burn. Red fruits, punchy taste is carrying on, with minimum dryness. It is very pleasant to sip it, no matter what is written about it, this is a tasty and really round rum, few added grams sugar more or less🙂. Edit:29.6.25, a nice sipper
Review by Kevin Sorensen 🇩🇰
This is a very well balanced rum from Zacapa and I like is a lot especially considering the price tag. The nose is heavy with spice and sweetness and a touch of orange zest and chocolate. The palate is well rounded with caramel, honey and chocolate topped of with burnt oak and overripe fruits. It has a long, sweet and fruity finish with burnt oak. I'd say this one is better than the bottling from the late 90s and early 00s that won medals. Price to quality is very good.
Review by Rumbaer
The Ron Zacapa 23 was a recommendation and for me a direct hit. A great smell of vanilla, fruit and a little wood. The taste is mild and smooth. A little more wood than in the smell. Lingers longer on the tongue. Very pleasant. Sweetened yes, but not too sweet Nice dark color, unfortunately helped with caramel. My first Zacapa but certainly not the last.
Review by Jakob
Pleasant and widely available - one of the rums that every rum lover has probably had in their glass at least once. With typical rum aromas of vanilla, caramel and spice - the profile is primarily characterized by a dominant sweetness. Very accessible, manageable complexity.
Review by Gerbes
Very long ago my favourite rum. I have even chosen it to be the only rum on my wedding. After some time I think that the quality went down. So I kind of left the rum as it was to 'commercialised'. However I have to admit that even after so many years, it is still one of the best and worth of not only trying but also regular drinking.
Review by Tim
Very well-known and popular rum and also not quite as sweet as a Diplomatico, but the price-performance ratio is bad with Zacapa. Pleasantly round after caramel, honey, vanilla, and fruit, but some alcohol sharpness with it. In the mouth clearly spicier than the nose suggests. Positive is the roasty aroma in the mouth and finish, which can be associated with coffee.
Review by Quentin Demillière
Zacapa is in a pudgy mood. Very pleasant on the palate, its sweetness leaves us on a woody, spicy path. I highly recommend it.
Review by Galli33
Back to the roots 😎😝 A long time ago… Back in 2020 this was my start into this wonderful magick world of RUM😎 BTW it’s good for desert and the sweet-rum-lovers. The alcohol is very dominant here! Also the price tag is too high (in my opinion), you can get easily some better rums out there.
Review by Dunzi
A really good classic. Balanced and round in taste, a long finish with a slight pleasant spiciness.
Review by Adrian Wahl
Marketing was good with Zacapa, but to suggest it is a 23 year old premium rum I find difficult. The taste is not premium
Review by Mark Leggett
Dark in color. Smells of caramel, butterscotch, tabaco, spice, barrel and charred barrel. Flavor follows suit, pretty sweet but great flavors.
Review by BjörnNi 🥃
Caramel and vanilla. Not bitter. Delicious
Review by audreykathy
Still one of the best choices!
Review by Steffmaus🇩🇰
One of my first meets with the Solera term. An easy sipper, although too sweet for me. In the nose I got caramel and vanilla. The notes gave off caramel and chocolate to me, and also some hints of dried fruits
Review by Portman
Great rum, very full-bodied and sweet-fruity, just the right heaviness and sweetness. Rightly one of the most renowned suppliers of premium spirits.
Review by Jarek
A few percent more alcohol would do it good. Still a solid entry-level rum.
Review by Iron Barney 87
Intensely sweet with cocoa and dark chocolate. Slightly bitter finish with a touch of herbs.
Review by Gunnar Böhme "Bauerngaumen" 🤓
Probably the maximum of many hotel bars, but suitable for gentlemen's evenings at best as an unspectacular starter. Relatively flat, short and somewhat boring. If it has to be Spanish style at all, I would almost prefer the Cuban Eminente, even if it is supposedly much younger.
Review by Jonas Kofod
Very well perfected sweetness and barrel ageing. To me it needs some ester funch or complexity to raise it further.
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Expert reviews
Reviews from RumX's blog partners, independent experts who have tasted, evaluated, and described this rum..
Expert review by Rhummer
"The nose is smooth with caramel and vanilla. Taste enveloping, spicy oak, dried fruit and vanilla. Sweet finish not particularly persistent. Rum Zacapa was created in 1976 to commemorate the centennial of the founding of the Guatemalan city of Zacapa. The name, in Aztec, means "on the river of grass.""Read full review →
Expert review by The Fat Rum Pirate
"Ever the bargain hunter. As the picture shows even the Zacapa glass is slightly different and geared very much to sipping the rum and swirling it around in the glass a bit like they do with fine cognac's in the movies. it gives an extra touch of class to an..."Read full review →
Details about Ron Zacapa Sistema Solera 23
A Column Still Rum from Guatemala, distilled by Industrias Licoreras de Guatemala, at 40%.
Community purchases
3,919 bottles logged by 2,784 collectors.
A drinker's rum.
50% opened, 448 emptied and repurchased.
What does Ron Zacapa Sistema Solera 23 cost?
Community paid €35–€65.
Current best price: €38.90 – within the typical community range.
What members actually paid for their bottles. A typical range, not the current shop price. Full price & collection history in RX+ →
+60 purchases in the last 3 months.
Added to collections, last 12 months.
3,919 purchased · 1,513 tasted · 770 wishlist · as of
About the Industrias Licoreras de Guatemala distillery
The Industrias Licoreras de Guatemala distillery is located in Guatemala. Rums from Industrias Licoreras de Guatemala have been reviewed 3,820 times with an average of 7.5/10.
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I'm Oliver, and RumX began in 2018 as a small passion project in Stuttgart, back then under the name Rum Tasting Notes.
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