Ask a dozen rum connoisseurs what the “best rum in the world” is and you’ll probably get at least half a dozen different answers. You might just find one name edging out the others though and it’s not from anywhere in the Caribbean. Ron Zacapa Guatemala rum gets tagged with the title a lot. In a lot of tasters’ opinions, the best rum from Guatemala is the best in the world.

best rum from Guatemala

I’ll go on the record saying this is my hands-down favorite brand and I first raved about the 15-year version on this blog back in 2008. (That’s now a Botran brand–making it a terrific value.) I have to admit I’m coming around to liking the 23-year version a bit more each time, so either it’s mellowing out over the years or my palate is changing. I would normally think that 23 years is way too long for aged rums, but it’s a solera system blend of rums, so the whole batch isn’t that old, just part of it. Plus rum from Guatemala is aged in the highlands, not at sea level like it is in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and other Caribbean islands.

If you’re picking out something to put in a snifter for after-dinner drinks, the Zacapa Centenario XO one I reviewed a while back is really something special—stored in cognac barrels for part of its aging. For an after-dinner drink, this would be the best rum from Guatemala in that setting.

I got to try a lot of different offerings from Ron Zacapa in Guatamala City at the Casa de Ron VIP sipping lounge (there’s also one at the airport. That’s the old name and location though. It used to be right next door to the Westin Camino Real. At some point it moved and it’s now one of the company’s expanding Casa del Ron outlets in multiple locations. In the same neighborhood as before is one near the Wyndham Garden Inn and two blocks from the Intercontinental Guatemala.

For rum lovers, these Casa del Ron spots are a dream. You can pick from three different flights of tastings, ranging in price from around $14 to $20. There’s a Botran round, a Zacapa round, or (what I tried), the three top añejo versions. With that last one you get the 15-year Botran, the 23-year Zacapa, and the 23-year Ron Zacapa XO. Try getting those three pours of different types of rum in a Manhattan or London bar and you’ll be spending as much as you did on dinner.

Guatemala City rum room

I reviewed the Botran Reserva Guatemala rum I picked up in a Miami liquor store a couple of years back and while it didn’t blow me away, it’s a great value. It’s made by the same company, with the same master distiller (who has been there for 30 years). My English-speaking host at Los Añejos said Botran uses sugar cane harvested in the beginning of the year, while the Zacapa brand uses cane harvested at the end of the year.

Apparently that makes a difference as the taste profiles are markedly different. To me, the latter has a much more rounded and balanced profile, tasting mature and structured, with just the right amount of vanilla, cinnamon, caramel, and oak.

Despite all the rum tastings I’ve done, I always seem to learn something at these things. Here are a few fun facts from this distillery.

1) Guatemalan rum is made from the first pressing of virgin sugar cane honey, not molasses.

2) They use the sistema solera (solera method,) which is a blending of different ages. So the 23-year rum is not all aged 23 years: it’s a mix of ages from 6 to 23 years. The master blender has to get the mix right to maintain consistency from year to year.

3) Barrels are stored upright in the rum aging warehouses, rather than on their side, due to the frequency of earthquakes in Guatemala.

4) The distillery is located at 300 meters, but the aging warehouses are at 2,300 meters, in order to allow a slow aging process.

5) Neither facility is anywhere near the town of Zacapa (the name was supposedly made in honor of the city’s centennial), but the family name is Botran.

See more info at the company website.

Guatemalan rum at the airport store

Note that there’s also a Guatemala rum tasting area for these brands in the business class lounge at the airport, where you can also buy a bottle to go at the adjoining shop for a good price. Plus there’s a Casa de Ron a couple blocks from the main plaza in Antigua on 4th. These will give you a great opportunity to taste what are surely some of the best rums in Central America, and therefore the world. They'[re far better than the industrial rum choices you’ll see at your typical all-inclusive hotel bar.

This company dominates the choices, especially now that they’ve added the Edicion Negra Rum that’s aged in charred oak barrels previously holding bourbon (American oak) or red wine (French oak casks). Thankfully the rum distillers holding monopolies in their country tend to make a quality product at least, so it’s hard to complain. That’s especially true with Guatemalan rum.

Pasador de Oro Guatemalan rumA new Guatemalan rum popped up during my last visit to a Total Wine chain store though and I need to check it out for the future. The name is El Pasador de Oro. “Pasador” can mean a lot of things in Spanish, but we’re guessing they meant “Hairpin of Gold” for this one, not a reference to a colander, shoelace, or bolt.

As with the Zacapa Negra, this one has an extra step to change the flavor. After the initial aging of 6 to 15 years, the rum goes into French Cognac barrels for an unspecified time to age some more. From what I can find online, it’s getting rave reviews from serious rum experts, though it’s a little sweeter than the others mentioned earlier because of that last step.

Total Wine says it scored a 93 from the Beverage Testing Institute for the XO version, which retails for less than $40. A great value for something that was a gold medal winner at the prestigious San Francisco Spirits Awards. It might be worth splurging for the longer aging of the Gran Reserva version though because that one is only $10 more. In both cases, there’s a gift box and the bottle itself is gorgeous. (The comparatively cheap label, not so much.)

There’s an air of mystery about this rum because the final aging happens in France and the producer is French company Les Bienheureux S.A.S. Since all they’ll say is that the original rum comes from “a Guatemalan distiller,” I’m assuming this is really another Zacapa/Botran product in disguise. If anyone knows different, please put a note in the comments.

In conclusion, you can’t really go wrong with anything that has “made in Guatemala” on the label whether it’s Botran Rum, Ron Zacapa, Pasador de Oro, or others that I haven’t managed to unearth yet. In my opinion these Guatemalan rums rate at the very top of the best rum brands and to my taste, the flavor profiles are the most interesting and complex out there, but with a smooth finish that’s much more elegant than you’ll find with Flor de Caña or any Caribbean rum.

Just understand that when you are drinking the best rum from Guatemala you are sipping dark rums, not the ones you would use to make a piña colada with. Step down to the Botran version with the lowest age number on the bottle for that or pick up one of the other Central American rums from Centenario in Costa Rica or Ron Abuelo in Panama if you’re mixing cocktails. For the best rum from Guatemala, you probably don’t want to add anything more than an ice cube.