El Dorado 15 Year Rum

The 12 yr is a great rum. This is even better as you would hope with the extra age and price. Poured neat the nose is barrel oak drenched in melted butter and caramelized brown sugars. Baking spices, pencil lead and shoe leather round it out. Palate is oily and rich with buttery dark toffee, raw vanilla, Christmas spice, old leather jacket, seasoned oak and distant warming smoke. The finish is long with smoked buttered oak, fading brown sugar, nutmeg, vanilla and aged leather. It dries out enough to balance the sweet notes. This is complex delicious all star rum. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, do not hesitate. If you are a rum lover.....hell even if you are not just buy this. For around $40-50 you will get an exquisite liquor that proves rum can be an elite sipper. Worst case you can have the best rum and coke of your life.....91/100

Vanilla, coffee and orange peel jump at you as you take in the nose. Like a fine French latte. The first sip is an explosion of flavors without even a hint of harshness. At this point it moves from a French Latte to a Cuban coffee, with strong brown sugar and cinnamon notes. As you continue, chocolate and citrus come out to play as well. The finish is long and satisfying with a little more coffee and cinnamon. I'm still fairly new to rum in general, but this to me is the Cognac of aged rums. One of the top spirits I've tasted on this tasting journey thus far. I'm probably going to now visit Guyana at some point just to go to the El Dorado distillery. This is world class in a glass.

My second sipper rum after Diplomatico RE, I instantly found this one drier, more complex, and slightly more challenging given its pleasant burn. My favorite part of this rum is the nose—toasted nuts, roasted coffee, and dark brown sugar. Pro tip: revisit the empty glass a couple hours after finishing for an indulgent olfactory treat. The taste is equally luscious and rich, with walnuts, vanilla, caramel, and a large hit of woody oak. At times, I find the dry oak burn a bit much if I’m not ready for it. There’s no mistaking this is barrel-aged rum. My preferred sipper of choice—a balance of indulgence with a hint of challenge. I plan on trying it in the occasional cocktail as well.

Brown sugar and light molasses are the strongest aromas -- maybe some dark cherry, too. It has a richness about it. I like! Mild cinnamon burn; I'm glad it's not a higher proof. There's sweetness but it's not sugary. Just a couple drops of water help to smooth out the burn and bring forth a little floral aroma. Light caramel, mild orange zest, and a hint of fine tobacco are the flavors i can discern. At times it tastes like it was aged in Dalmore Cigar Malt scotch barrels! It's definitely a good sipper but also works well as a mixer. Rating based on neat sipping.

Taste notes from a regular malt whisky drinker: Nose: 4,25* Sweeter than the sweetest whisky, baked candy sugar, plums, BBQ roast with honey and white pepper, nicely layered Palate: 4,25* So velvety, peppery coating turns to sweet honey Finish: 4* Bitter woodsy funk, dark spices, ash, sweet honey lingers Very balanced, yet pushing the edges, almost like a fine aged scotch would. Just not as deeply complex. Arrangement and mouth feel reminds me a bit of Glendronach Allardice. Must-have for the price.

Maple, wood, and hogo on the nose with some alcohol. The palate is maple that might be a bit too sweet mixed with some harshness of spice that mixes with the hogo. There is a bit of molasses bitterness, but it doesn't offset the sweet maple entirely and is a bit odd. Drinking more, the complexity comes out more. The spice is quite present. It's fine. There are some complex elements, but it doesn't entirely come together. It seems too sweet. I'd be happy to sip it, but I don't love it. It's a 14 to 15.