El Dorado 12 Year

WOTD 10: Whisk... Rum of the Day? El Dorado 12 Year

So for my 10th review I've deviated from the course a tad. I wanted to review something a bit different just to keep things fresh. That said, I decided to review El Dorado 12 Year Rhum. The H is on purpose.

Let's talk about Age Statements! (Oh joy...) There are two types of Age Statements when it comes to Rums. In the Spanish speaking countries, a Rum's age statement is based on the oldest Rum in the mix. This means that invariably the Rum itself is no where near the age on the bottle, but does contain some of the highest year in it, just fractionally. So for instance, the Ron Zacapa 23 is an average age of 6 - 8 years (5 being the minimum age before blending into older barrels and 23 being the high end). While this is totally acceptable, it can be a little deceiving, intentionally or not. On the other hand, in English speaking countries, Rums follow the rule of Scotch, which is, the year on the bottle is the age of the youngest batch and also can, and usually does, contain batches much older. El Dorado, while being based in Guyana, follows these same rules. El Dorado 12 is, at the minimum, comprised of 12 year old rums with possibly older rums blended in to uniform the taste. If you want to know more about the distilling process of the 12, 15, 21 and 23, it's possible I'll be putting a post on my blog about it. Regardless the 12 is slightly sweeter than the 15, 15 than the 21, etc.

The reason I bring up Age Statements in Rums is that you, the consumer, want to know what you are getting. Slapping a 23 year statement on a bottle of rum sure makes most people think it's 23 years old... the entire contents of the bottle. This is just not the case in most situations. Whether that actually matters to you, well now you know, like it or not.

Tasting Notes!

Nose: Tropical Fruits, dark brown sugar and honey

Taste: Smooth and easy, little to no burn. Full of flavor. Fruits and Spice, honey and sugars.

Finish: Medium to long, with flavors of pineapple, coconut and honey.

You can treat a good rum just like a good whiskey. Nose it. Sip it. Taste it. Pick out the flavors you like and enjoy!

Cost: $45
Rating: 92/100