El Dorado 21-Year

A truly great rum. So many things in it's aromas. I like the "thickness " in it. It is smooth, yet warm, it is dark in color it tastes fruity to me. It is expensive but you have to get a bottle once.

So much flavour!! Long lingering finish, super smooth and very complex it's close to being my favourite rum!!

Lets be very clear about the difference between aging rum vs whisky; Whisky is aged in very cool conditions creating a slow process with vary little evaporation and maturity comes very slowly. It cannot be aged too long in my opinion. Rum ages in very different conditions being very warm with a tremendous amount of evaporation further concentrating the flavours into the remaining fluid. Aging rum creates high loss for the distiller driving the cost even higher but I feel it is possible to age rum too long. Another aspect of rum is that there is no industry standard for the age designation; a 7 year rum may have aged fully fledged in a cask; be blended with other rums; be Solera aged in a pour through method; or be cooked up in a back room over donkey poo... 'they' really need to standardize it for the good of the industry (whoever 'they' are). I suggest to not read anything into age statements and judge the rum "as is" but you will likely pay according to the age. That being said, this is a fantastic aged rum and I guess it is largely made up of rums aged for 21 years in a dark cool Guyana warehouse; perhaps blended by the master to achieve the balance he is after. Fair enough! The dark complexities make it worth the price which ran ~CAD$90. As their premier product the bottle could carry a bit more elegance over the other El Dorados so that brought it down a notch to a 8.

Un des meilleurs de ma collection.
One the best, must have.

Superb, I like this rum the best of the the 12, 15 and 21. The thing that puts it in front of the 12 and 15 is the smoky finish and slightly drier body. I love cigars and this rum with a nice cigar is a match made in heaven. A very smooth and very well made rum. The only downside is the price.

El Dorado 21 years is certainly one of my favourit rums. It's well balanced and has certain notes that I cannot find in other rums, so far. Fully recommended

Hits like an oak log but finishes like pancake syrup without the maple. Cant say its a giant leap from the other El Dorado products and therefore I question the substantial price difference.

Bottle: Classic El Dorado shape, which I really like.
Color: Beautiful dark mahogany.
Aroma: Vanilla, dark chocolate, caramel and a little wood.
Taste: It is soft, but too whiskey for me. I probably should have allowed the rum to stand more or drip some water into it. The taste was dominated by caramel and especially dark chocolate.
The aftertaste is long and intense.
Most reviews rate this rum very high, but I was quite (even given the price) disappointed. The color and especially the aroma greatly exceeded the impression of the taste. I expected a slightly sweeter taste. If you like drier rums, you will probably be satisfied.

Overall rating: 8,5 out of 10

Ver 1.0: pour the glass, drink right away. Some strange alcohol will bug you. Score 8.
Ver 2.0: let's it breath for a while, 7min for instance. All the bouquet opened. One part of oak, one of demerara sugar, 7 of dates, ecsotic fruits and 1 part of pure magic. Scored 10.
Ел ДоРадость!

This is a blend from the Enmore still, the coffey Diamond still and from the Port Mourant double wooden Pot still. It's incredible what you get here.
I would say it's a blend of mainly Enmore with Versailles and PM. It's a little bit too sweet, I would prefer it's natural taste. Enmore is already sweet witout additional sugar.

It's rich and a quite complex rum. It's molasses driven and intensive at just 43%. I would prefer more abv, but for the main market with many sweet rum lovers this is enough.
Taste is richer than ElD15, more complex, less sweet, with more aromas. It's very enjoyable.
But if you are a beginner go for ElD15 first, ElD21 has some more heavy aromas (wood influence -> iodine with bitter taste), maybe you will not understand this masterpeace because of that.
I would kill for a ElD21 in cask strength, such a beauty would cost more that 150€ for sure.
Enmore 1997 from Rum Nation for example costs 167€.

The nose starts like a typical Enmore rum with honey, raisins, molasses and the typical Enmore wood (oak with iodine). PM is lungering in the background. I get wood, oranges zest, a hint of anise and grasy notes. Green walnuts and dry fruits are also in the nose. You will find much more flavors there, just see my tasting notes. Damn this is good and complex.

The taste starts almost like the nose with Enmore flavors. Raisins, molasses and honey. A sweet bitter note is on my palet (green walnuts), sounds like the bitter sweet symphony and it's really is.
In the middle taste I get the orang zests with wood and herbs (sage, mint). This is the VSG -> Versailles still mark (a bottler named this mark MDXC - Main Diamond X for Versailles and Coated -> molasses coated).
The finish is middle long, there is not enough abv for a longer finish. I get some spice, liquorice, mint, burned sugar, iodine. Very tasty blend, Enmore, MDXC and PM flavors are there and in a good balance.
I would rate it with 88 points. At cask strength without sweetening we could speak about 94 points I think.

Smell: molasses (coffee), caramel, dry orange peels, herbs/grasy notes, honey, green walnut, iodine, dried fruits, burned sugar,black tea, wood. Incredible rich nose.
Taste: molasses, raisins, honey, wood, iodine, date
Middle: orange peels, walnuts, honey, caramel, sage/herbs, grasy notes, raisins
Finish (middle long): spices, liquorice, mint, burned sugar, iodine (this one has seen some old casks)
Aftertaste: honey, papaya, walnut, mint, some leather

Sweetness: 3.5/5
Spice: 2/5
Fruits: 3/5
Mildness: 3.5/5
Value (65€): 4/5
Experience level: amateur to expert