Rating: 21/23 I'll be honest: I wouldn't have bought this based on my past experience with El Dorado alone. I enjoyed El Dorado previously, but it was too sweet for me. Then I kept reading rave reviews of this and I found it slightly on the cheap side, so I got a bottle. I've got my fingers crossed hard. N: Holy **, this smells like a fine cognac! That wood and fruit - it makes me think of something between A De Fussigny XO and Hennessy XO, possibly with a dab of that richness from Delord 25 (admittedly not a cognac). Saying that this smells like "fine cognac" isn't an attempt to belittle rum, but an exclamation of surprise at the profile I'm getting here. It's also a big thumbs up since fine cognac is well...great? I haven't gotten to describing the scents yet, but i'm actually liking this better than any of those brandies I just listed. And now I am describing the scents - how rich and full! I get that rich, mature fruitiness of Hennessy XO mixed with the slightly spicy woodiness that's a bit more present in A De Fussigny XO. Then there's a bit more fullness to that combined profile, which I'm calling Delord 25's influence, but it's honestly not as clear that that's accurate. OK, now I'm actually describing the smells, not just comparing them. I get some really delightfully rich cherry. That syrupy rich red fruit blends beautifully into this mature, dry, woodiness that gives of these wafts of the most matured and subtle faint molasses richness that really is tough to differentiate from that fruit just being mixed with charred French oak. Faintly floral notes with some well-integrated orange peel. I could just keep digging into this nose for ages. It's absolutely delightful. P: Sweet yet dry with this initial bold woody dryness before some fruits come in from the sides. The orange peel and cherry stand tall, with the orange surprisingly overtaking the cherry. I get some faint floral notes and faint vanilla backing too. French oak blends into burn sugar, which has suggestions of molasses; however, the french oak brings in some clove tannins and mellow maturity. This palate is somewhere between a rum an a cognac. Eventually, there are some faint faint of dried tropical fruits mixed with a bit of raisin. The molasses gradually builds a bit and that's what signals that this is actually a rum. The faintest sichuan peppercorn. F: This isn't the boldest or most enjoyable finish. I get dry wood with suggestions of dried orange blossoms and faint dried cherry blossoms. The faintest of vanilla comes in, perhaps. I get a bit of that French oak richness and fullness helping to fill this out. It even adds a bit of complexity. There's a decent amount going on here, but I miss the vibrancy of the palate and nose. - Conclusion - OK, this is not what I expected at all and I love it! It's not at all like El Dorado 8 and it's massive more complex and balanced. I'd been intending to side-by-side them to compare the age difference, but they're just astoundingly different. Honestly, I though that there was a good chance I'd regret this purchase. Oh, how wrong I was. Side by side, I do get some more complexity out of A De Fussigny XO, but it's less full. That comparison does bring out the rum characteristics here, but it doesn't. make this taste wholly like a rum so much as it does like a rum-cognac hybrid. Likewise, Hennessy XO is fruitier, sweeter, and less complex side by side, really solidifying my impression that this is somewhere between the Hannessy and A De Fussigny. Apparently, I have the A De Fussigny at an 18 and the Hennessy at a 20. That doesn't feel quite fair, but based on those ratings and the weirdly right in the middle character of this, there's an argument that this is a 19. I think that there's a burn to the A De Fussigny holding it back and it could be a bit fuller too though. This has neither of those problems, so the case here is more of one where the product is better than the sum of its parts. Delord 25 also seems right in this range. Between the two, I lean a little bit in favor of this over the Delord, but that could change. I conclude the side by siding with Plantation Trinidad 12 (2003). So this is a fundamentally different beast - which is surprising because it's the only other spirit that I've given a very high score that's a rum. The Plantation is funkier with a lot of sweeter and more tropical notes going on. It definitely tastes more rummy. It's a tough call between the two as to which is better, actually. Actually, one more: this is fairly competitive with Foursquare Premise. Again, different styles though. Based on what I'd read really expected this to have good complexity buried underneath a mountain of sugar. I'm so glad that isn't the case and I'm frankly surprised by how much I like this. Considering all of the comparisons that I've made, this is looking like a 19 to 21 with a faint chance of being a 22. It's really a terrific rum, although it is far from the usual rum profile. I'm thinking it will be a 20 or 21. For a while, I was leaning toward a 20, but after the side-by-siding, I found that it just seemed better than the things I'd given 20s and was not clearly worse than the ones I considered to be 21s. So it's a 21.