Ron Zacapa 23 Solera

As I usually begin sipping and end up mixing, this rum didn't fullfill my expectations. Pure it was drinkable, not wow at all. Most 10yo+ rums I have tried are better than this. And never try to mix it, it makes a terrible cuba libre. For sipping ok, for mixing not.
Being far more expensive than Diplomatico RE, Cubay 10, Medellin 12 and not half as tasty and only being good for sipping I can't give it more than a 6.
Had to review this rating after a second try and lowered my score from 6 to 5, gonna use it for cooking if I can't find someone who likes it to give it away. Miles away from Diplomatico RE or Varadero 15 and for mixing it is really terrible or even worse than terrible. My biggest deception after paying such a high price

Boring. Nice vanilla taste but lots of added sugar that hides the rum. Plus the 23 is misleading. Overall id say it's simply over rated

This is the first rum I introduced my palate to (like 10 years ago). Back then, I couldn't stop recommending (and drinking) this rum as a must have. It's hard to accept that your top one is going down hill. Last bottle I drank ( 6 months ago) was so dissapointing, I ended up opening a spiced capitan morgan with coke. The amount of sugar in this is just absurd. It's like drinking from a maple syrup container with a sugar cube on your tongue. It is still a decent rum, but for the price, I can easily mention 5 options far better (and even cheaper). Like somebody said, zacapa is trying to suit the american palate… and that is just wroooooonggggg.
-Best approach: water and ice (50/50)
-Worst approach: coke or any sweet beaverage.
-Best with: salty snacks or dark chocolate (70 to 90% cocoa)

I see that this rum might be one of the better ones, but for me, it was not that exceptional. Nothing bad to say about this one either, though.

At first, i really liked it. Then, after a while the sweetness was, for my taste, just too overpowering. One glass at a time. Being a Solera type of rum, i m not sure if they only pore rum in the next barrels - spiced sugar by the intensivity of it.

So, as a big rum fan I tried this as it is surrounded by a lot of hype. The best conclusion I can make is, if you think this is a good rum, you are not a rum fan, stop drinking rum and go back to single malts.

This tastes like a really smooth, sweet single malt. Not bad, but the sweetness seems like 'sweetener' sweet, not sugar or caramel. I did try mixing it too, but it is terrible with cola, terrible with ginger, but not so bad with Copella apple and raspberry juice.

I ended up binning it.

Edit. (27/12/2022)
So coming back to this, I had it a few times back to back with some other rums and whisky, and what I previously said kinda stands, though I have to admit, it is a decent sipper. Very smooth and has some characterful flavour that dances around after. I still think its highly overrated, but doesn't deserve the '3' I previously gave it. In my retrospect, and much broader understanding compared to several years ago, I certainly appreciate this drink (significantly more than I do Kirk and Sweeney for example), and thus considering it as such I have updated the score to reflect where I believe it lies. I certainly wouldnt recommend this drink as a mixing rum, or a slogger, but this is a decent sipper. There are many good rums id choose over this at its selling point, but i'd not turn it down when available.

Rum je to dobrý, ale osobně mi vadí jak je prezentován na našem trhu a chovám k němu jakési antipatie. Slávu si zaslouží Zacapa XO ale Solera je předražená ošizená bída ( můj názor) Když ale není co jiného pít na baru, tak nepohrdnu. To přiznávám :-)

Definitely not bad. But for me too much oak and to less softness in aftertaste. And in the end I feel cognac...

I don't know, I'm probably different, I bought this rum among the first, and even a liter, because of worldwide praise, and then I didn't know what to do with it. We didn't sit at all, I'm into sweeter rums and here I was disturbed by everything that was in that rum and it was hard for me to get rid of it. Since then, I have avoided all the Zacaps with an arc, although they may be good and praised, but it was enough for me ...

Nevím, jsem asi jiný, tento rum jsem pro celosvětovou chválu koupil mezi prvními, a dokonce hned litr, a pak jsem nevěděl, co s ním. Vůbec jsme si nesedli, jsem na sladší rumy a tady mě rušilo snad vše, co v tom rumu bylo a horko těžko jsem se ho zbavoval, od té doby kroužím od všech Zacapů co nejdále, i když jsou možná dobré a chválené, ale mě stačilo...

I was also swayed by the reviews here, so I bought a bottle. In my opinion, this rum is not that good. Too sweet and it lacks a pleasing finish. It packs an alcohol punch. If you can legally buy Cuban Rum, similarly priced Ron Santiago de Cuba 12 years is superior. If you cannot buy Cuban rum and you want the solera process, Santa Teresa 1796 Solera is legal in the U.S. and is far superior.