El Dorado Guyana Rum Review

Travel Distilled reviews The El Dorado 12-year-old, a multi-award-winning demerara rum from Guyana.

A few years ago I was lucky enough to spend a week exploring the beautiful South American country of Guyana.

It’s one of the loveliest places I’ve ever been to, and is dedicated to eco-tourism in order to preserve its amazing wildlife and jungles. One night we were taken to a bar in the jungle (yes, really), where we managed to drink all their rum. Well, we were British and we were also all journalists, so we had two reputations to uphold. You can read all about that little escapade here.

The rum was probably pretty basic stuff, but it didn’t stop us knocking it back and dancing all night. I was therefore delighted to be offered the chance recently to sample a rather more refined rum from Guyana, a 12-year-old El Dorado.

Demerara and Diamonds

One thing that Guyana is famous for is demerara sugar, named for the country’s Demerara River which has long been the focus of sugar production. As a by-product of that, it has also long been famous for rum. These days, though, there’s only one demerara rum distillery which survives in Guyana, and that’s the Diamond Distillery, owned by Demerara Distillers Limited.

The Diamond Distillery, which produces a range of El Dorado rums, has stood on the banks of the Demerara River since 1670. It therefore has almost 350 years’ experience in producing rums from demerara sugar cane, and it has some of the oldest rum stills in the world. They’re also unique in being made of wood rather than the usual copper or stainless steel, and are believed to be the last working stills of their kind.

The Stills

One of the stills is a wooden continuous Coffey still, acquired from a sugar estate and being used to make rum here since 1880. They also have two wooden pot stills, over 250 years old, and a four-column metal French Savalle still, acquired from an 18th-century sugar estate.

El Dorado Awards

The more I read about El Dorado and the Diamond Distillery, the more excited I was to try their 12-year-old rum. Even more so when I discovered this particular rum had been voted best in the world at the inaugural 2018 Caribbean Rum Awards, as well as picking up a host of other trophies and medals in the last few years.

El Dorado Guyana Rum Review

The dark brown rum comes in a handsome stubby bottle, contained in a bright red box. The label is suitably old-fashioned, given the rum’s heritage, with a Pirates of the Caribbean sailing ship and some equally old-fashioned lettering. It’s all classic, classy, and totally in keeping.

So, what effect would the use of demerara sugar cane and of wooden stills have on the flavour? And what of the 12 years of ageing in old bourbon oak casks? The answer, in a word: Wow! The nose is incredibly smooth and rich. There’s sweetness from the sugar, of course, with honey notes too, and a vanilla/banana-type sweetness as well. Yes, sweet it certainly is, with caramel/toffee tones, and a dash of Caribbean coconut. It’s a cocktail of aromas before you even get to the taste.

And what a taste. Everything that’s there on the nose comes through on the palate, enhanced by a buttery rich mouthfeel, and a dash of orange peel perhaps. The caramel and toffee notes are joined by chocolate, and tropical spices, all swirling around as you sip. The finish is also delightfully rich and extremely smooth. Yes, I will have another.

This is definitely a sipper of a rum, and will appeal to anyone who has a sweet tooth. Not that it won’t appeal to everyone else either. You could use it in cocktails, but quite honestly with a rum of this quality I’d recommend enjoying it neat, and don’t even have it on the rocks. As for a rum and coke, don’t even think about it. And when I finish the last drop, which won’t be taking me long, it will remind me of that marvellous night when we drank the bar dry of rum in Guyana.