Ron Zacapa Reserve Limitada 2013 Rum

Product of: Guatemala

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Launched in November 2013 as the first of what will be an annual limited edition (32,000 bottles) extension to the regarded Zacapa 23 rum. Like 23, it is distilled from sugar cane juice and aged 6 to 24 years using a solera system, but Limitada undergoes a further double maturation period.

Referred to as 'virgin honey', the sugar cane juice is 14% sugar (76-77 brix) and is heated to evaporate water and concentrate the sugary solution. The natural yeast culture used to ferment this sugary juice was originally taken from pineapples and batch fermentation occurs in closed tanks.

After distillation, the spirit (which comes off the still at 88% alc./vol.) is reduced to 60% before going into scraped and cleaned American oak ex-bourbon barrels for three years. After this first aging period the run is blended in a large vat where it is mixed with just over 10% of much older rum. It is then re-casked in recharged barrels and left for a further two years before again going into a blending vat where it is once again mixed with older rums. This process is repeated a third time but the rum is then placed in ex-sherry butts for another two years before again being blended with older rums. The rum then undergoes a fourth two year aging process in Pedro Ximénez seasoned sherry butts.

Up to this point the aging process is the same as Zacapa 23 but for Reserve Limitada the rum is transferred to heavily re-charred American oak casks for six to seven months before a further six to seven month final maturation period in Oloroso sherry seasoned casks. It is then filtered and bottled.

Like Zacapa 23, Reserva Limitada is presented in a bottle with a band of woven petate around its belly.

Review and Tasting

Sampled on 16/01/2014

Appearance:

Clear, deep bronze amber.

Aroma:

Salted caramel, toffee, raisons, clove, tobacco leaf and sandalwood with dried fruit, mocha coffee and roasted almond.

Taste:

Slight honey, dried fruit and vanilla sweetness is balanced by bitter chilli-chocolate, old leather, toast, tobacco, salted caramel and cracked black pepper and nutmeg spice.

Aftertaste:

Long finish, drier than the palate, with chilli spice, fudge, cracked black pepper, vanilla and caramel.