Havana Club 5 Años Añejo Especial
A newcomer-friendly Cuban column-still rum with sweet vanilla, caramel and light oak. RumX members mostly use it as an affordable go-to for Cuba Libre and other simple long drinks, not serious sipping.
- Great for mixing
- Affordable price
- Approachable sweetness
Details about Havana Club 5 Años Añejo Especial
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How does Havana Club 5 Años Añejo Especial taste?
Aggregated from 224 community reviews.
Cheap, easy Cuba Libre rum A newcomer-friendly Cuban column-still rum with sweet vanilla, caramel and light oak. RumX members mostly use it as an affordable go-to for Cuba Libre and other simple long drinks, not serious sipping.
Those who want an easy, inexpensive Cuban rum for Cuba Libre or simple cocktails, with familiar vanilla-caramel sweetness and light spice.
Sip-focused enthusiasts seeking complexity, dry profiles, or additive-free rums; anyone sensitive to even mild alcohol harshness neat.
How is Havana Club 5 Años Añejo Especial rated?
RumX's 0–10 scale is strict — 6.3 lands squarely in the "Pleasant" band. 12% of tasters rate it Good or better; only 19% rate it below average. See the full rating guide →
Rum reviews
A selection of the most popular reviews from our community. You can view the complete list in our app.
Review by w00tAN
My evergreen, great for a nice long drink or in cocktails, but can also be drunk neat if you don't have a nice bar nearby or are out and about. In my opinion, you can't go wrong with it ;)
Review by Sim Rhum
Parfait pour boire avec du coca en sortie
Review by Timo Groeger
One of the better Havana Club rums. It's not a must-have, but it's still good. Tastes slightly nutty to me, but still just manageable. An ok rum if you compare it with the other Havanas.
Review by Kevin Sorensen 🇩🇰
I use this one for my Cuba libre. 4 cl Havana Club 1 cl lime juice 10 cl Coca Cola
Review by cigares
A not bad Ron, rather balanced and easy to drink, but without any other interest.a very caramel nose with vanilla and a kind of peach. A short but not unpleasant finish with apricot.
Review by Chrischi78
Joa, drinkable, but nothing special. A little sweet, a little spicy, but also kind of boring. You can mix it, but you don't have to. Not really suitable for drinking neat, there are many, many better things.
Review by Tim
This rum from Havana has a better price-performance ratio, because it is often available at the same price as the Havana Club 3. For mixing quite good.
Review by Gunnar Böhme "Bauerngaumen" 🤓
Drank on the spot and found to be bad. Inexplicable and unpleasant sharpness. Didn't get any better in the local TúKola.
Review by rum_sk
The nose does not offer very much. You can smell some hints of fruity flavor (orange peel) with various spices but it is all covered in alcoholic odour. Taste however, is a different story. Sweetness is very well balanced and you can taste the fruity aromas, mostly orange and orange peel, that are very well balanced with vanilla, caramel and spices. The finish is pleasant while at some point you can feel the copper on your tongue as an aftertaste. Overall pretty pleasant rum for the sipping as well as a component of your favorite drinks such as cuba libre. I had it on several occasions and I still quite like it as it is cheap, accessible and tasty.
Review by Rumpalumpa
classic for Cuba Libre. Especially as it's really cheap. over all its surprisingly similar to the Havana 3 yo. a little spicier and with some caramel and wood so i prefer it for mixing with coke. But no Daiquiri etc
Review by TheJackDrop
Mouais, we've seen worse... and better
Review by zabo
Bought purely as a mixer. Yes, you can drink it, but you don't have to. That's all you need to say about it. Unfortunately, it's really not the best on its own, but as a low-budget mixer it does justice to its price range.
Review by Stevie Slick Probert
Nose of vanilla, dried fruit, wood and liquorice Tastes of dried fruit raisins treacle and liquorice and woody aftertaste with a alcoholic kick and the end
Review by heckto🥃
This rum is not for drinking straight. It is above average in the Havana family but still not good. It tastes of caramel, vanilla and tropical fruit and finishes a little spicy. In a mixed drink, however, it is absolutely acceptable.
Review by Steve the Barman
All my Tastings and Scores are purely based on “Rums under £50”. I rarely look at Rums over £50 for my YouTube.
Expert reviews
Reviews from RumX's blog partners, independent experts who have tasted, evaluated, and described this rum..
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Community purchases
876 bottles logged by 52,000+ RumX members. The ratio of closed / opened / emptied, indicates whether this rum is meant to be drunk or is a collector's item.
Also on the wishlist of 57 members.
About the Havana Club distillery
The Havana Club distillery is located in Cuba. Rums from Havana Club have been reviewed 1,773 times with an average of 6.8/10.
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Oliver · FounderBy rum lovers, for rum lovers
I'm Oliver — together with Jakob, Robert and Lukas, we started RumX in 2018 as a small passion project in Stuttgart, back then under the name Rum Tasting Notes.
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