Rum Review: El Dorado 15

From the distiller review (linked here with a nice “flavor profile” chart) you can see that there are a lot of different rums in this blend.

“El Dorado has been produced at Demerara Distillers Limited since 1992 on Guyana. The 15 Year is a blend of aged demerara rums, some as old as 25 years, made in different styles of stills – Enmore and Diamond Coffey stills, Port Mourant double-wooden-pot-still and Versailles single-wooden-pot-still. The rums are blended and aged in ex-bourbon casks.”

El Dorado rums are sweetened. Sugar tests (link to test results on rumproject) put the value at about 30 g/l on the sweet side. This was always a favorite to which I returned time and time again, but in the last couple of years I’ve gravitated to un-sugared rums. Recently I realized I’ve never formally reviewed this rum, a big lacuna in my review collection. I determined to pick up a bottle and correct this omission. I also wondered what I would think of a sugared rum after more than a year of exposure only to the non-sweetened variety.

The first thing I noticed is that the price has gone up. This rum was (in California) an even $50 everywhere for years. Now it’s $60. OK, this is happening to everything else, why not this rum. I bought the bottle. At 40% ABV it does though seem like an extravagant purchase. I have only one other 40% rum (English Harbour), but it is half the price. Most of my rums these days run 46%-57%

Color: Medium dark, mahogany, copper red highlights in the light.

Legs: Quick, medium legs when swirled.

Aroma: Dark fruit. Prune, raisin, dried apricot, chocolate, burnt brown sugar, treachle, little alcohol. Not an overwhelming aroma breathed deeply, but that thanks to the lower-end ABV. Still it is plenty rich.

Flavors and mouth: Dark brown sugar, creaminess, mild fire (very smooth, the ABV again and the sugar), with vanilla, raisin, tobacco, oak, burnt coffee, a long sweet brown sugar and molasses finish. I used to detect a little funk in this rum, something that cut its sweetness, Now, having had far funkier rums (too many frankly), I can not find the funk in here. Still, despite being more sweet than I’m used to now, the rum is delicious and never comes across as “over sweet”. There is enough oak and other flavors to present a complex profile with much more to enjoy than the sweetness alone.

The El Dorado rums come in a variety of age declarations. That I know of there are 8, 12, 15, 21, and 25 year versions. Unlike most other producers (many makers have abandoned age statements altogether) the El Dorado age statement on the label represents  the youngest rum in the blend! I have had the 12, 15, and 21 year offerings. The 12 is more fruity, a bit less complex, and seems sweeter than the 15. The 21 is richer and more complex (its also $100/bottle), but me thinks overmuch. I think the 15-year really hits the sweet spot (no pun intended) between them. Inu A Kena (see his review) disagrees with me, but that is, after all, what makes a horse race.

When it comes to taste in rums, like other distilled alcohol some tastes go one way and some go another. But I have yet to meet a rum aficionado who does not like El Dorado 15. Highly recommended at least once if you can afford it! Here is one more review from my friend the Fat Rum Pirate.