Rum Discovery #2

El Dorado Rum 15 Year Old (43% abv)
Guyana Demerara Rum
Circa £43.00 70cl

So onto Rum Number Two of our vertical tasting; El Dorado's 15 Year Old expression. This was the one that we were introduced to by Brand Ambassador Stephanie Holt at the Midlands Whisky Festival

The El Dorado 15 Year Old Special Reserve was the first expression to be launched way back in 1991 and is now viewed as a fine, cognac-like rum possessing the most intriguing and complex character in its class. Perfect for long sipping, straight or on the rocks. A Classic

A combination of specially selected aged rums, some as old as  twenty five years, from the Enmore and Diamond Coffey stills, the Port Mourant double wooden pot still and the Versailles single wooden pot still. (promotional notes tells us that it is distilled using the only two remaining wooden pot stills in the world and a wooden column still) it is blended and aged in old bourbon oak casks and bottled at 43% abv

This 15 Year Old is truly a remarkable rum, having been awarded the 'Best Rum in the World' Trophy a record seven times at the International Wine and Spirits Show, they must be doing something right?

So What Did We Think?

Kat Says: Moving onto the 15 year old, I got a creamier quality like that of soft butter on the nose, the molasses is not there, instead the Demerara sugars notes comes through that makes the nose seem less rich than  the 12 year old. The smell is exactly like when the sugar and butter start to combine when I'm making butter cream icing for cupcakes. This doesn't have the same freshness as before as I can’t pick out the lemon zest, the lack of this makes it rich and full bodied. 

The taste of this one again is sweet with the same Demerara flavours and warming spices which is more like that of cloves this time, and it’s smoother than the 12 year old. 

The finish was similar to the 12 year old but didn't linger with the same fresh sugar cane taste and has black pepper from start to finish. I'm guessing the loss of freshness is because of its age, as the flavours are more like that of spun sugar – verging on burnt sugar than that of fresh sugar cane.

Dave Says: I found this 15 Year Old to be richer and darker than the 12 Year Old. Yes the  Demerara sugar is ever present on the nose, but there are rich sweet dark coffee notes, chunky orange peel from a dark marmalade a little pepper spice and rich vanillas, even my wife really liked the nose of this one.

The palate is sweet and syrupy, but not as sweet as I had originally thought it would be. The first time I had tasted this was immediately after tasting a 20 Year Old Single Grain Whisky from Port Dundas, and there was a similarity between the two. There's sweet spices and dark brown sugar, treacle and molasses like.

Again the finish lingers, but creamy and thicker this time with dark spices, smokey blackened peppercorns, and dark toffee.

Many thanks to El Dorado Rum for supplying the tasting sample.