Are El Dorado rums that good?

Nah, ED 12 is sweetened with about 30-40gr/L sugar. Maybe try some Foursquare, Mount Gay or Appleton instead. El Dorado 12 yr. 39 thefatrumpirate El Dorado 12 yr: 35 Drejer El Dorado 12 yr: 35/39 ALKO

Thanks man. I'm not sure if the month gay and Appleton are available here. I'll look it up.

When I first started drinking rum, I loved them and El Dorado 12 was my favorite. Now that I have gotten used to drinking rums with no added sugar, they taste cloyingly sweet.

(I had to make a new post because the edit fiunction wasn't letting me add this) I still get the 5 and 8 yr when I see them for a good price (under $15), as they are much less sweet than the 12 but have the interesting intense Demeraran taste. If you get the chance grab the Hamilton Demeraran 86 to get that style with no sugar added.

I am lucky enough to have El Dorado 21y and 25y (1986 Vintage). I have not tried 15y neither 12y. They are definitely in the sweet side of the spectrum but those two shocked my palate. Your preferences will change with more exposure to different rum styles. I have learned to appreciate and respect all the different profiles I tried. Get a sip of the 21y and then tell me if all the buzz is not well justified 😎

But why does DDL add loads of sugar to their rums if they were any good? Why mask the taste of the product? El Dorado 25 1980: 51 gr/L (about half of Coca Cola? absurd) El Dorado 25 1986: 39 gr/L. http://rumproject.com/rumforum/viewtopic.php?t=1683

Why ? It's unfortunately all about the biz. If you got sweetened rum on the market, you can reach a lot of more people. All the newcomers like the sweetened rum, except they come from the whiskey-side. It's truly sad that sugar thing, it's not declared. But so what ? For me it's just a rum-style, sweet rum. Sometimes I like it, but I like to known the pure taste of it. There are some independent bottles who use no sugar and colour. https://www.rumratings.com/brands/5416-the-little-distiller-ultimatum-rum-single-cask-selection-guyana-diamond-12-year?review_id=39250#alt_review_39250 English version below

I actually love ED 12 y. o., but I have like sweet stuff in general... and I think it still is a good series of rum, this line of theirs. Could you suggest a great "true" nonsweetened rum tho? I quite enjoyed some of those and I somehow love good whisky, Glenmorangie being my fauvorite. Thx

Try Havana Club 7, it's pretty good and not very expensive. This was my first experience with rum in general and I liked it very much especially neat. It has some sweetness but it wasn't because of added sugar I supose. Now I wanna try Sailor Jerry, Brugal and Matusalem. Unfortunately In my country we only have Brugal Anejo and also their white rum... i want to try Brugal 15 but it's not available here.

Of course, the El Dorados are pretty nice stuff ! There some Indie bottler like Bristol Classic, Companie des Indes, Duncan Taylor, Silver Seal.... they don't mix colour or sugar to the bottling. Unfortunately, they are very seldom and hi priced (CdI at: www.rumako.cz) Otherwise go for Bajan Rum (Barbados), bottled in Barbados, no sugar by law, like Doorly's, R.L.Seale's, Real McCoy, Mount Gay..... . Not, for example, the Plantation ones, they bottled in France, so it's allowed to add sugar. @kon12: try Matusalem 15yo made in Dom.Rep. it's sweet and the bottle is empty very quick. Don't buy any made in Puerto Rico, they are awful ! Matusalem 23yo, not worth the Price.

The Havana Club 7 bottle that I bought was made in Cuba and distributed by Pernod-Ricard so it was the real deal. I would love to try some mount gay rum but I'm not sure if they are available in my country( they have local distributor but they're not widely available) Also their offerings for sipping rums are pretty expensive for me.... I don't have that much money to spend. :D

Havana Club 7 yo is quite nice, but in my opinion the HC Anejo Reserva is as good as the 7 yo, but much cheaper (here in Switzerland) so you can save money for a bottle Mount Gay XO (I recommend, good price for the value). So, you can start the game to collect the rum. When I start to discover rum in my early days, there was no nice rum in Switzerland, so I always took a bottle from Holiday back home. Nowadays there a lot of nice rum, but they are expensive too. :-/

Hey Kon12 welcome to the world of rum! I wouldn't dive into the older El Dorado rums like 12 or 15 year bc they are very (overly) sweet. However they are worth a taste at some point just for the experience and I will admit I liked the 12 a lot when i first had it. Like others have said here, my palette grew away from that but I still like El Dorado 8 yr very much. It still has some sugar added but not nearly as much as the older ones. Take notice that Demerara style rums will taste different in general from a Cuban style rum weather sugar is added or not. They have a distinguished "funk" to them that takes some getting used to if you've never had one. These included Appleton, El Dorado, and Pusser's British Navy to name a few. I think you will really like Bajan rum in general as there is no sugar allowed in their rum making process and they have a natural dry/sweetness (same rule applies for Appleton but its a different funky style as previously mentioned). For Bajan rum I would look for Mount Gay or anything made by Foursquare distillery, specifically the Doorly's brand IMO. Additionally, Puerto Rico makes a fantastic natural rum called DonQ that is said to have a traditional Cuban style to it and the Anejo is one of my favorites. Lastly, you might see the underrated rum called Cruzan Single Barrel, very little if any sugar added and delicious. Good luck and enjoy, Cheers!

If you like the Havana Club 7, explore the Santiago De Cuba line - recently had the 12 on a trip to Havana and it was fantastic. Pairs well with a Monte 2 :)

I started out years ago loving ED12 best out of all their agings. Then I found out that it is a sugar bomb that loses it's flavor in less than four months. Another solution would be to add some ED8 or ED 5 to the ED12 to reduce the sweetness. I still think that ED12 is a great value, but it is not made for sitting on the shelf for several months. The next time I buy ED12, it will go away rather quickly.