On El Dorado’s website, they have a reference to their use of wood in the process of aging. It reads, “We are patient. Very patient.”. Sometimes it’s hard to remember when you consume a spirit that it takes a long time to get from agricultural raw material to final production bottle. If you’re wondering just how long 12 years ago was, consider the mortgage bubble was going ‘pop’, we were saying good-bye to Harry Potter in the Deathly Hallows, and T-Pain was gonna Buy U a Drank. I can’t say Shawty was sippin on El Dorado 12, but maybe she should be now.
El Dorado 12 sits firmly at the bottom of El Dorado’s Luxury Cask Aged series. Starting at 12 years, these rums are getting firmly in the aged categorization from Smuggler’s Cove* and range up to 21 years. As is the usual, the age statement refers to the minimum aging of a rum used in the bottling.
Bases in rum matter a lot, and El Dorado 12 is no exception. Known as a demerara rum, it’s made from turbinado sugar. This starting point gives it its sugar in the raw characteristic, and less of the grassy notes in a sugarcane based rum. This rum is also from Guyana via Demerara Distillers Limited who are fortunate to have some of the oldest functioning stills on the planet. In operation since the 1800’s, Demerara Distillers Limited operators both Coffey and Pot stills, as well as heritage column stills.
El Dorado 12 – On It’s Own
Once you open El Dorado 12 you get beautiful notes of sweet brown sugar, maple syrup, and molasses laced with baked fruit and spice. On the palate, it’s relatively smooth and easy to sip. Flavors of vanilla, caramel, and spice are complimented by a subtle sweetness. The finish is a nice balance of nuttiness, caramel, and oak.
In Cocktails
As El Dorado 12 was one of the three rums we tried in Florida, we didn’t have extensive time to play with it. The cocktails we did make benefited from the caramel and vanilla sweetness, while also getting a charge of the spice and some of dried fruit notes. In most cocktails, El Dorado 12 is very nice, but benefits from a helping hand from another rum for complexity.
The Final Word: El Dorado 12
El Dorado 12 is pegged as a Luxury Cask Aged series entry point – and in a lot of ways it reminds of me of a luxury entry point. Similar to an entry level luxury car, there’s a classy exterior to the bottle to make your friends curious. The contents inside are equally refined, and a pleasant way to pass the time – but not so much to ruin the experience of any other car (or rum) for you forever. Overall, El Dorado 12 is a delightful sipping rum that you won’t feel terribly about adding to a cocktail.
Other’s Swig A Dram of El Dorado 12:
- The Fat Rum Pirate masterfully describes the delightful contents of this stubby bottle.
- The Rum Howler is pleased
- The Drink Hacker succinctly explains his overview on El Dorado’s Luxury Cask Aged series
- El Dorado’s Website
Raw Tasting Notes
Nick: A moderately spicy nose floats up hints of tobacco and molassess. Caramel and dark brown sugar with a hint of vanilla join. A hint of baked or preserved fruit (like a date) joins in. The start is smooth, with small pricks of heat as it sits. Bright fresh vanilla cream and caramel are the fore palate, melding into dates, raisins, and light brown sugar. The ending contains a hint of oak, a slight caramel like flavor, and a mild nuttiness.
Ann Marie: Nose: Light brown sugar with notes of maple syrup and freshly ground spices. Taste: Vanilla extract with molasses and slight cinnamon spice. Flavors linger on your palate for quite some time gradually getting deeper into an oak barrel/port cask sensation. Easy to sip on its own or can easily blend well with other rums to add some spicy/oak flavors.
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