Striking Gold: El Dorado Rum Tasting
This is another rum review from the selection at Hostaria 24 in Sosua, Dominican Republic. The other night I tried their two El Dorado rums, the 12 YO and the 15 YO. Both were good. However, I am only going to review only the 15 YO here. The 12 YO was the end of a bottle and tasting oxidized. I got big banana tastes and not a whole lot else. The 15 YO was from a fresh bottle, and having drunk it on two consecutive nights I think I can write a reasonable review.
El Dorado 15 YO
This rum pours with a deep brown color. The nose is demerara sugar with a musty undercurrent I am going to call Chinese medicine. The palette is gentle and the alcohol is restrained. While the dominant taste is demerera sugar, there is huge complexity with a host of other tastes flitting in and out of the background. I got a distinct taste of orange peel and bitter sweet herbs, the whole Chinese medicine shop thing, along with a little smokiness. The aftertaste is extremely long and rather bitter.
A little ice really opened the rum up. Dilution brought out banana notes (similar to what I had noted in the oxidized 12 YO). I found the banana taste dry, more like vegetal banana blossom than sweet banana fruit. A hint of licorice or anise emerged to fill out the Chinese medicine shop taste mentioned earlier. There was a subtle sherry note, not unlike what you might get in a sherry cask finished Scotch. Citrus was also present, and vanilla appeared and grew over time. The slight smoky edge mentioned earlier also persisted.
Overall I found this a complex dry rum containing numerous delicate flavors. Definitely recommended.
August 28th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Really enjoying reading about your adventures in the Caribbean Seamus – seems like you’re having a great time! I’m very jealous…
August 30th, 2008 at 3:54 am
Greatly enjoying your pirate-like trek as well Seamus.
September 2nd, 2008 at 8:13 pm
The nose is most definitely demerara sugar, but i would say the musty undertones are tobacco– tobacco with sauteed plantains (in a rough cut cedar box). The chinese medicine (root tones, pungent tastes) does show up but it appears more me as a mid-palate resurgence after the caramelized honey, and figs in the front-palate begin resolving into grilled tropical fruits (banana for sure, but maybe under-ripe mango, or pineapple stalk) the herbals burst back up with bracing alcohol smoke, and baking spices that linger, diminishing as a finish–very nice.
Yes, definitely delicate, definitely complex, oh so very good.
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Thanks for the enthusiastic tasting notes Forest. . .
I am now back in Santo Domingo so sadly it may be a while before I try this rum again. In any case, very very nice stuff.
In depth look at Barbancourt coming up shortly. We had a power cut at the hotel here in Santo Domingo tonight, and when the lights came on my bottle Barbancourt was empty.
October 13th, 2008 at 3:03 am
This is my favorite rum!
What you call Chinese medicine is what i call smoky, but i dont think my palate is so very refined as yours and forrest. But can we agree that this is the worlds best rum?
October 13th, 2008 at 6:20 am
I think I need a bottle for my bar before I can decide whether it’s the world’s best. I only had a couple of chances to try it so far. It has been one of my favorites so far though.