Copaltree Copalli Cacao

Copalli is made by Copaltree in southern Belize, distilling from estate cane on a single farm, and the Cacao edition takes their white rum and steeps it with local cocoa. No sugar is added, so the chocolate here is the bean rather than syrup, a distinction that defines the bottle.

The base remains an earthy, grassy cane juice spirit, and over it the cacao reads loud and clear, dark chocolate dominating the nose and palate with mocha and a roasted, fudgy close. The vegetal underpinning still shows through, which gives it more bite than a smooth dessert rum, and at 40% it stays light. It drinks as a curiosity for chocolate lovers and earns its place in stirred cocktails more readily than as a long neat sipper.