El Dorado Special Reserve 15-Year

El Dorado rums differ from one another substantially, this one is a different story than 12y. On the nose there is demerara sugar, molasses, raisins, citrus fruits and licorice. On the palate, there is all above mentioned components, with a touch of oak, butter and vanilla, all well balanced, sweet, I might say a bit too sweet to fully enjoy for me. The aftertaste is long, sweet, with wood, spices, dried fruits, mostly raisins and prunes, it quite resembles cognac aftertaste. This rum is smooth, complex and easygoing. I would appreciate less sugar, but this is demerara after all, so what the heck.

I read a lot of reviews and so I much jumped on a bottle when I had the chance. I really wanted to like this rum, it smells like great rum. Like the rum that rum raisin ice cream tries to imitate, but the burn afterwards turned me off. Maybe the Plantation 20 and Ron Vicapa spoiled me but the burn for the price I paid disappointed me. I tried everything letting it sit, decanting- only after I let some ice cubes melt did it dent the burn.

Στο 12αρι έβαλα 8+. Άρα το 9 είναι λογικό. Εμένα μου άρεσε τό ότι έχει τον χαρακτήρα του 12 , αλλά με μεγαλύτερη ένταση και πιο μακρυά επιγευση. Το ότι είναι λιγότερο γλυκό το θεωρώ επίσης θετικό μιας και δε μου αρέσουν τα σιρόπια.

This is my second rum, it reminded me a lot more of whiskey and I personally did not find this rum to be as sweet as a few have said, I can't even tell it's got sugar added. I think it tastes good and it smells good. I think this is a pretty good quality buy and I would definitely recommend it.

El Dorado 15 Years was the first bottle I bought when I started to explore the world of rums.

When I grew up, rum had a very bad reputation here and that was for a reason. You could get 'True Jamaican Rum' which probably were the leftovers of the cask cleaning... and then you had 'Rum Blend' which by law needed to have at least 5(!)% of rum... and the rest were sugar and industrial alcohol. People used it as baking flavour or in best case to brew a bowl of punch. Nobody in full possession of his sanity would have sipped it voluntarily.

When lots of people around me started to grow interest in whisky, I also gave it a try, but I never really liked the taste.

But this was the point where I started to read about premium rums and after some online research I ordered my first bottle of El Dorado.

And this was were my journey began...

It is rich and flavourful, it is sweet and mild and it got me at the first sip. I don't need to say much about the taste I guess but since then till today I always keep a bottle nearby.

I never started to like whisky, but I lured almost all of my whisky loving friends into the world of rum... and most of them with the El Dorado 15 years. Since it is so delicious but not overly complex, it is a great starting point for a long and delicious journey!

This is always good and is such a great balance of flavor, texture, nose, and smoothness. Only reason it is not a 9 or 10 for me is that it is not quiet as smooth as I like. The flavors are excellent with strong notes of vanilla, dark cocoa, and a touch of bitter orange in there somewhere. It's subtle, but there and helps pull all the more dominant flavors together. Nice spice on the back of the tongue too with a longer than normal finish. It all blends together incredibly well.

Nice flavor and smooth. It’s on my repeat buy list

I actually liked it, but not much. I honestly cannot understand all the hype. I managed to find an old bottle of 43% somehow, which had a better "bite" and a bolder profile overall. Smell partially masked, generic taste with dominant sugar. 40% sampled it at a bar and it was very unimportant? Insignificant? Maybe in a local coctail with tropical ice cream, or with something sour mixed in to bring some balance, it would be much more entertaining. Would actually consider restocking on the old, 43% iteration of it, but that is already extinct. Not the 40%, though...

El dorado 12 was my gateway rum so I was excited to see the 15 on sale. ($40 CAD, usually around $53)
Smells sweet like the 12 but less alcohol and more intrigue. The taste has more going on too. Where the 12 was sweet, it was rather one dimensional. The 15 is still quite sweet but has some more chocolate/coffee, vanilla and oak going on. Longer finish with more to think about. Quite tasty, an excellent rum for my kind of taste: sweet and a bit complex. No one flavour really hops out at me, but lots to mull over. If you like the 12, definitely try the 15!
Based on price, availability, and flavour, this is a 10+!

Lovely rum for the price. So smooth on the palate and easy to like.