At the time of buying this I hadn’t tried much in the way of Demerara Rum other than the supermarket “Navy” style rum’s. So I thought I would give this a try. It was very highly regarded on The Whisky Exchange (I get a lot of rum online due to the lack of variety and specialist shops up here in the North East).
This rum is blended and bottled by Banks DIH who deal in alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and also have restaurants and bars in Guyana. However, it is noted on the bottle it is a Caribbean rum rather than Demerara. The reason behind this is simple – the rum is not from Demerara County, Guyana. The heritage of the rums used in the blend I have yet to confirm. Any information would be gratefully accepted. The XM brand of rum has its own website here.
The rum comes in a stubby style bottle as pictured. The labelling is a little busy for my liking (the older expressions seem to be slightly classier) and the metal screw top was a bit disappointing.
On pouring, the rum is a dark brown/copper colour, not as dark as cheaper Demerara’s such as Skipper and O.V.D. Interesting it isn’t as dark as the El Dorado 12 or 15-year-old. Whilst this rum isn’t a true Demerara rum it tastes quite alike the El Dorado rums. So much so I was genuinely shocked that it is over 20 years since Banks DIH used rums from DDL.
The rum is quite thick and clings to the side of the glass when poured. It’s a very sweet rum but unlike O.V.D it doesn’t have the bitter after taste that spoils that rum. It has more depth of flavour than Skipper rum. The rum isn’t in the class of the El Dorado 15-year-old (its around £20 cheaper for a start) but it definitely has similarities. It compares favourably with the 8-year-old El Dorado
I paid around £25 for this bottle of rum. In comparison to the similarly priced El Dorado 5 Year Old this is much better in my opinion. The El Dorado 5-year-old lends itself more to fruity cocktails where this sits well on the rocks or with a little cola. It would be interesting to taste this in comparison to the El Dorado 8 Year Old.
All in all a very pleasant sweet tasting rum with more depth than you might expect. It can be sipped, enjoyed with cola or probably even on a dessert such as Ice Cream.
I will be trying other rums in their range.
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Dai
January 3, 2015 at 12:31 pm
When I last bought a bottle of this I quite enjoyed it. Thought it was a very good rum for a seven year old.
thefatrumpirate
January 3, 2015 at 12:36 pm
Equally as good as the El Dorado 8 Year Old. The 10 year old is also very nice. Will get a 15 Year Old one day and compare to the El Dorado. Don’t know how they get that Demerara profile when the rum isn’t from Guyana.
Dai
January 3, 2015 at 1:34 pm
I had a sample of the 12 at Christmas. Very nice it was. As you say a nice alternative to El Dorado.