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Think about rolling into the airport lounge earlier than your flight and as an alternative of the bottom-shelf liquor, low-cost wine, and dangerous 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 Cross 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 for those who throw of their Botran rum too, they may simply have two within the prime 5. Except you step all the best way as much as their Ron Zacapa XO version in a really fancy bottle, you may get this nice rum for a really cheap value, a tiny fraction of what you’ll pay for Scotch and even bourbon that has skilled the identical degree of getting old.

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 might be on the Casa de Ron later within the day to actually get pleasure from it. You may earn again a superb portion of the annual charge in your Precedence Cross membership from this lounge alone for those who do a rum flight right here.

Casa de Ron on the Guatemala Metropolis Airport

Whereas this Central American nation does have a number of different airports, together with one serving Tikal, they solely get a smattering of worldwide flights. So for those who go to the nation, you’ll virtually absolutely fly into La Aurora Worldwide Airport, with the code of GUA. After I first visited this airport with my spouse and younger daughter again within the late ’00s on trip, the Guatemala Metropolis airport was somewhat dumpy and unhappy trying. 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 Cross members. So for those who’re within the latter camp, you’ve acquired two decisions. The Copa one could also be much less crowded for those who aren’t a rum fan or it’s too early for a drink.

Casa de Ron is a celebration of nice Guatemalan aged rum, nonetheless, and an actual deal with if you wish to pattern the corporate’s items with out shopping for a complete bottle to see what you want. It’s a horny facility too, newly constructed on this bi-level location in 2019. You possibly can 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 just’re restricted to 1 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 attention-grabbing Edicion Negra model that’s saved in charred bourbon and crimson wine barrels. That final one feels like a recipe for catastrophe, however all Zacapa merchandise are blended with the Solera methodology, which means the 23-year rum is just 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 various barrels with out having to reveal something.

Right here’s the complete 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 aggravated with this Sistema Solera methodology because it’s as opaque as what’s in your glass and also you don’t actually know what you’re paying for whenever you see an getting old 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 a bit schooling 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 supply 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 massive 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 situated between gates 6 and seven within the worldwide terminal and is open from 4:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Exit via the Rum Store

In the event you preferred what you tried in Casa de Ron sufficient to carry some residence with you, that’s as straightforward as swiping your bank card on the best way out. There’s a horny show of Zacapa rum manufacturers, with costs marked, so you may get a duty-free bottle right here with out visiting every other shops within the Guatemala Metropolis airport. Costs are in step with what you’ll discover elsewhere in Guatemala, lower than what you’d possible spend at a liquor retailer in your personal metropolis.

After 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 over time and this airport location is simply essentially the most handy one to strive. In the event you don’t have lounge entry, it’s straightforward sufficient to pay up elsewhere and have your personal educated sampling at a Casa de Ron in Guatemala Metropolis (a number of places) and the historic heart 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 desires to have a cocktail as an alternative, they’re comfortable to oblige. The bartender will combine up a signature cocktail that can be price taking a photograph of to your social media feed.

Are you headed to Guatemala quickly? See our critiques of the finest Guatemala inns for luxurious vacationers and take a look at our Guatemalan journey web page for a number of tour tales too.

Article and images 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 masking the area as a journey journalist because the mid-2000s. He has visited every nation we cowl a number of instances and is predicated in a UNESCO World Heritage metropolis in central Mexico, the place he owns a house. See contact info right here.