When the organizers of the annual International Rum Festival created the Hall of Fame, the first exhibit was Zacapa 23 Centenario, a premium Guatemalan rum. For 4 years (from 1998 to 2001), the drink won first place in this competition. Since the beginning of the XNUMXst century, most prestigious publications annually include at least one of the products of the Zacapa line in the top ten rums.
Historical reference. Zacapa is a city in the east of Guatemala, whose 100th anniversary in 1976 was celebrated by the whole country. By the festive date, Alejandro Burgaleta, senior blender at Industrias Licoreras de Guatemala, has created a new rum.
Industrias Licoreras de Guatemala is the largest Guatemalan alcohol producer. The company was founded in 1939 by the Botran brothers and is still owned by their descendants. In the 70s of the XX century, Botran rum was considered the best rum in the country, so Señor Burgaleta had to surpass himself.
The exact recipe for Zacapa is a trade secret, but it is known that rum is made from pure fermented sugarcane juice (no molasses added). Alcohols age in warehouses located in the mountainous area in the vicinity of the city of Quetzaltenango, at an altitude of 2300 m above sea level. The air here is rarefied, and the average temperature in the warehouse is +17°C. Under such conditions, rum ages slowly and acquires a special taste.
The drink is produced according to the Spanish Solera system, which involves mixing alcohols of different aging periods. First, rum is aged in bourbon and port wine barrels, then for at least two years – in sherry barrels purchased from Pedro Ximenez. The last year before bottling, the drink spends in barrels (20 liters) made of American white oak.
The first rum of the line was named Zacapa Centenario 23: centenario means “century”, and the age of the oldest of the rums in the blend is 23 years. The drink was packaged in petate matting, which is hand-woven by village Mayan weavers from palm leaves. Mats and hats made in this way were used in Guatemala even before the arrival of the conquistadors.
While the company was creating and promoting its rum, a civil war broke out in the country, which raged for more than 30 years. By the end of the XNUMXth century, the enmity passed into the stage of “all against all”. The company was cut off from the workshops where the famous mats were woven. The ethnographer Andres Botran helped everyone out. He offered to order “petata” to peasant women from the village of Horti, who were literally dying of hunger after the fall in coffee prices. Industrias Licoreras not only provided work for weavers, but also built a school in the village and established medical care. So the braided ribbon around the bottle of Zacapa is a memory of generosity and mutual assistance.
Despite the excellent quality of Zacapa rum, it was not so easy for the Guatemalan enterprise to break into foreign markets, securely occupied by international corporations. In 2013, the company’s president, Roberto García Botrán, sold 50% of Zacapa rum’s shares to Diageo. Thanks to Diageo, the drink is exported all over the world, Zacapa’s production increases by 10% annually.
Types of rum Zacapa
There are 3 types of premium rum Zacapa:
- Zacapa Centenario 23 (Solera Gran Reserva) – red-brown rum, 40% alcohol, a blend of spirits aged 6-23 years. Taste – chocolate-fruit, with hints of vanilla, nuts, light woody bitterness. Aftertaste – warm, spicy;
- Zacapa Centenario XO (Solera Grand Special Reserve) – old amber-colored rum (40%), a blend of spirits aged 6-25 years (except for bourbon and sherry barrels, cognac barrels are used). Slightly spicy chocolate-fruity notes on the palate gradually turn into a warm ginger aftertaste with a touch of mango;
- Zacapa Reserva Limitada 2014 – ultra premium rum, amber-red color (40%), a blend of spirits aged 6-24 years. The drink was created by senior blender Senora Lorena Vazquez for the 75th anniversary of the founding of the company. Exquisite caramel-cinnamon aftertaste of rum reveals undertones of raisins, vanilla, burnt oak and ends with a long aftertaste with a hint of fragrant mountain herbs.
