El Dorado 12-Year

Too good to mix. Wonderful oaky, vanilla rum. Best on ice.

Really enjoy this smooth rum easy to drink with ice. Not too expensive, recommend this rum highly.

I normally don't really care about the quality for the money comparisson. But this is one i have to mention. Its a great sipping rum and for that price it's a serious winner. Sweet, vanilla with a great smell. After the sip it has a little punch, which is great. You cant go wrong with this one.

Guyana rum. Min. 12 jears blend. Sweet, raisins, and caramel.

Delicious rum...super Demerara sweetness in the best possible way.

Has a very sweet taste as most mention, which I don't mind but this is not my favorite. Not a bad rum but was a bit let down considering for the price point you can get much better.

A very good quality rum at a good price. I highly recommend

Good straight but great with mix. Sweet, flavourful and easy to drink. Great for conversations with friends good luck having just one

Not great by itself, but the best mixer I’ve found yet. The sweetness works well with anything you’d want to use. Great in a Cuba Libre...

I like Demerara rums. Rich molasses is just what I am into.
And El Dorado 12 could be spot on. Woody, leathery, raisiny nose. Clear smell of molasses, caramel, somewhat funky, a hint of smoke. All great. But... ...you can already smell the sweetness. It is much too well-rounded, much too polite, too smooth.

And, on sipping, unfortunately that is exactly how it turns out to be: All the good things from the nose are somewhat there, but muted by way too much sweetness. This kills the funk and mutes everything else. To its credit, it gets better after a few months in the open bottle, when oxidation took its toll. This seems to increase the wood in the finish, which makes for a nice dry ending. The rum is still too sweet in general.
I am not sure I like the liquorice note in the taste. That is probably from the rum itself and reminds me of the part that I do not enjoy too much in Lemon Hart Demerara and Myers's Dark.

I think this would be excellent stuff if unsweetened. A wasted opportunity. I like the (considerably cheaper) Pusser's much better. Even though the potential of the El Dorado 12 clearly shines through. Frustrating. Thus my verdict: Good stuff, but somewhat spoiled with sugar and thus frustrating.

Still, the price is quite good and if you like sweeter rums, but you also would like some actual flavours in your rum, this is a good choice.