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.

Decent rum but maybe not worth the cost. Molasses and spices, medium finish. Good blend of flavours

A fine tasting rum. Let's see if I can get this to 50 characters.

If you read my "bio" you will see I was a "sheltered pirate" for many, many years. The first time I saw or heard of El Dorado, I was at the Four Seasons Resort in Nevis and they had this "21" on the shelf! I bought a glass and immediate said, "Wow!" Thus began my El Dorado journey, which ultimately led to the "25"!.

The "21" is my go to "high-end" value sipper (at a "reasonable" price!), and has been for many years. The "25" is for "special" occasions. I ALWAYS have El Dorado 12, 15, and 21 readily available depending on my "mood"!
If you have NOT tried this, get this...you will definitely enjoy!

(Although I rated the current "25" an 8 here, IF you have the $$$$, the 25 is better than the 21; but for value, I rated the 21 higher -- make sense?)

On the nose I get oak and a little leather. On the palate it is smooth with strong baking spice notes that do not linger. Smells sweeter than it tastes. A nice sipper.

Caramel, vanilla and barrel aroma, smoked cocoa in the taste, scent of caramel, sherry finish