El Dorado Spiced Rum is a spiced rum from the El Dorado brand, funnily enough.  You would think that this would be a pretty easy bottling to come across? Surely a global powerhouse such as DDL know the selling power of Spiced Rum?

It would seem they don’t as this is pretty hard to find here in the UK.  I don’t even think it is distributed over here.  It is more commonly found in mainland Europe but even still it is a rum many people are unaware of.

If you do an image search on Google you will see a few different designs for this rum.  I am not sure how old this bottling is.  It seems pretty “old style” but the cap has the more recent El Dorado motif.  The bottling on the official El Dorado site is different but that is not guarantee that it is the most current bottling.  To say DDL are a little slow in doing things would be an understatement.

The rum comes in a standard bar bottle with a good metal screw cap.  The design and colourway in my opinion is uninspring.  You get no information regarding the spices used other than “Subtly Spiced”.  It is bottled at a respectable 37.5% (making it qualify as a Spiced rum rather than Spirit Drink here in the UK).  The hydrometer test revealed less additives in this rum than most of the standard El Dorado range (especially the older bottlings).  Which is interesting.

Fortunately the El Dorado website has some information regarding the spices used

“Its unique blend of aged Demerara rums and natural spices – cinnamon and vanilla with hints of citrus – delivers a genuine Caribbean flavour with a smooth taste and rich aroma.”

I actually picked this bottle up in Italy (San Remo) in what was a very interesting and well stocked store.  On the back label of the bottle is a white sticker giving details of the importer – Velier SPA our friend Luca Gargano nonetheless.

Another interesting point about this rum is its colour.  It’s much lighter than your usual dark El Dorado Demeraras.  It reminds me very much of Foursquare’s Spiced Rum.

In the glass and visible from the bottle the rum is a classic straw/gold colour.  It looks very much like a more “regular” rum.  It hasn’t been heavily coloured like so many Spiced Rums/Spirit Drinks.

Nosing the rum I am once again thinking of Foursquare’s spiced.  It is very spice heavy rather than high on the added sugar content.  So many spiced rums are sugary vanilla laden atrocities.  So its good to see El Dorado didn’t go down that route.

The rum in the blend I would say will be pretty young.  Even with the added spices its still reasonably aggressive.  Quite which still it may come from I really couldn’t hazard a guess its likely from the Enmore but it could easily be that or the Versailles.  I doubt its from Port Mourant or contains much rum from that still if a blend.

As a sipper its okay once you get past the youth of the rum.  It’s probably best with a block of ice.  It has a peppery spice to it and you also get a lot of bark, a cinnamon stick and some cloves.  It’s quite woody and earthy.  There is a sweetness to it but its counteracted by quite an oaked/woody bitterness.

When you begin mixing the spices seem to retreat a little.  More in the forefront come the citrus and vanilla notes.  Wrapped up in a sweetness which is refreshingly not too sickly and cloying.  In all honesty I think I prefer this neat to mixed as I like the rummy-ness of it that way.

I’m not sure how well distributed or how well this spiced rum sells.  I doubt it will appeal to the average spiced rum fan who seeks a vanilla and lime super sweet sugar bomb. Nor is it easily recognisable as an El Dorado product.  I would have expected a Spiced Rum from El Dorado to be very dark, heavy and rich.  Christmas Pudding like.  This is not like that at all and is quite “natural” tasting.  It’s more of an infusion than what perhaps most people would recognise as a spiced rum. It’s quite an odd product really and perhaps more evidence that El Dorado and DDL don’t really have their finger on the pulse.

It has most in common with Foursquare Spiced and Elements Eight Exotic Spices, if you seek comparisons.  For all its relative pleasantness I don’t think it is as good as either of those.

It’s pretty decent and if I could pick it more easily I’d probably by a bottle from time to time but I can’t say I’ve fallen in love with it.  If I wanted a sweet El Dorado kick I’d probably still just opt for mixing some of the 8 or 15 with coke if I’m being entirely honest.

Still it has a certain authenticity about it which lets be honest El Dorado rums don’t always have.