Think about rolling into the airport lounge earlier than your flight and as an alternative of the bottom-shelf liquor, low cost wine, and unhealthy beer you’ll discover included in U.S. lounges, you get to sip the perfect rum on the earth as an alternative. It’s not a dream: that’s the setting of the Ron Zacapa Casa de Ron within the Guatemala Metropolis Airport. And it may be all yours when you have a Precedence Go membership.
We’ve made no secret right here about our favourite rum, which is an opinion numerous the consultants share. The finest Guatemalan rum, Ron Zacapa, beats out the remainder of Central America and the Caribbean in our opinion and in the event you throw of their Botran rum too, they could simply have two within the high 5. Except you step all the best way as much as their Ron Zacapa XO version in a really fancy bottle, you will get this fantastic rum for a really affordable value, a tiny fraction of what you’ll pay for Scotch and even bourbon that has skilled the identical stage of growing older.
I used to be truly sorry I had booked an early flight once I walked into this lounge and I used to be very tempted to do some day consuming. It was 9:00 within the morning although, so I made a decision to be a accountable grownup and have espresso as an alternative. I checked out the scene on behalf of you although, pricey reader, and was salivating sufficient that I’m prepared to move again to Guatemala on one other journey so I will be on the Casa de Ron later within the day to essentially get pleasure from it. You would earn again portion of the annual payment in your Precedence Go membership from this lounge alone in the event you do a rum flight right here.
Casa de Ron on the Guatemala Metropolis Airport
Whereas this Central American nation does have a couple of different airports, together with one serving Tikal, they solely get a smattering of worldwide flights. So in the event you go to the nation, you’ll virtually certainly fly into La Aurora Worldwide Airport, with the code of GUA. Once I first visited this airport with my spouse and younger daughter again within the late ’00s on trip, the Guatemala Metropolis airport was moderately dumpy and unhappy wanting. They’ve made nice strides since then, nonetheless, and it’s now on par with what you’d anticipate from a capital metropolis take-off and touchdown facility.
There are literally two lounges within the GUA airport. One is the Copa Membership lounge serving enterprise class passengers of Copa Airways, those that have excessive sufficient standing with Star Alliance to get in, or Precedence Go members. So in the event you’re within the latter camp, you’ve bought two decisions. The Copa one could also be much less crowded in the event you aren’t a rum fan or it’s too early for a drink.
Casa de Ron is a celebration of fantastic Guatemalan aged rum, nonetheless, and an actual deal with if you wish to pattern the corporate’s items with out shopping for an entire bottle to see what you want. It’s a lovely facility too, newly constructed on this bi-level location in 2019. You’ll be able to sit at a desk or stomach as much as the bar and check out no matter you’d like from their rum menu, with the one restriction being that you simply’re restricted to at least one drink solely of the Centenario XO rum. That’s an affordable sufficient restrict contemplating that a bottle retails for round $135.
In any other case, you’re welcome to strive a Ron Botron 15-year, a Zacapa 23-year, or an fascinating Edicion Negra model that’s saved in charred bourbon and purple wine barrels. That final one seems like a recipe for catastrophe, however all Zacapa merchandise are blended with the Solera technique, which means the 23-year rum is simply partly 23-year rum, for instance. So the grasp distiller can flip the depth up or down on the ratios of what got here out of these different barrels with out having to reveal something.
Right here’s the total record of what they’re pouring:
- Zacapa XO (1 per particular person, restrictions could apply)
- Zacapa Edición Negra
- Zacapa 23
- Botran Solera 18
- Botran Reserva 15
- Botran Añejo 12
- Botran Reserva Blanca
- Ron Colonial
Some purists get irritated with this Sistema Solera technique because it’s as opaque as what’s in your glass and also you don’t actually know what you’re paying for once you see an growing older years indication on the label. For me although, the ultimate product’s style issues greater than what goes on within the mixing course of and this fashion you’ve assured of consistency too. A Ron Zacapa 23 goes to style the identical whether or not you purchase it in 2015 or 2025.
There’s additionally just a little training within the combine, from the shows on the partitions to info the bartender will present on the background. Then when your abdomen begins rumbling, there’s meals on provide such as you’d discover in any airport lounge although once more, superior to what you’ll discover in a U.S. one run by the large 3 legacy carriers. (I didn’t drink, however I did get to eat.) Right here’s the menu in English.
The Casa de Ron VIP lounge is positioned between gates 6 and seven within the worldwide terminal and is open from 4:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Exit by means of the Rum Store
Should you appreciated what you tried in Casa de Ron sufficient to carry some house with you, that’s as simple as swiping your bank card on the best way out. There’s a lovely show of Zacapa rum manufacturers, with costs marked, so you will get a duty-free bottle right here with out visiting some other shops within the Guatemala Metropolis airport. Costs are in keeping with what you’ll discover elsewhere in Guatemala, lower than what you’d seemingly spend at a liquor retailer in your individual metropolis.
Once I visited on the finish of 2023, for instance, a liter of the Zacapa 23 was simply $46, an actual cut price, and the Edicion Negra in a pleasant present field was $65 for a liter.
As talked about earlier in our put up about Guatemalan rum, Casa de Ron has expanded its choices through the years and this airport location is simply probably the most handy one to strive. Should you don’t have lounge entry, it’s simple sufficient to pay up elsewhere and have your individual educated sampling at a Casa de Ron in Guatemala Metropolis (a number of places) and the historic middle of Antigua.
They don’t simply pour rum right into a glass although. If there’s somebody in your social gathering that doesn’t get pleasure from consuming spirits neat and needs to have a cocktail as an alternative, they’re pleased to oblige. The bartender will combine up a signature cocktail that will probably be price taking a photograph of on your social media feed.
Are you headed to Guatemala quickly? See our critiques of the finest Guatemala accommodations for luxurious vacationers and take a look at our Guatemalan journey web page for a couple of tour tales too.
Article and pictures by Luxurious Latin America editor Timothy Scott, who visited the Casa de Ron within the Guatemala airport in December of 2023 and did a tasting at one of many capital metropolis places on an earlier journey.
Article by Timothy
Timothy Scott is the founder and editor of Luxurious Latin America and has been protecting the area as a journey journalist for the reason that mid-2000s. He has visited every nation we cowl a number of occasions and is predicated in a UNESCO World Heritage metropolis in central Mexico, the place he owns a house. See contact info right here.
