2003 The Colours of Rum Diamond Distillery 18 Year Old Edition No. 5 Cask Strength Guyana Rum (700ml)

The Diamond Distillery sits on the east bank of the Demerara River near Georgetown and is home to Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL). Its history stretches back to the 1650s. We're told this was distilled in a single wooden pot still, which would have to be the Versailles still (Diamond have three in total). Versailles is key to El Dorado's 15 and 21 year old rums, producing a powerful, medium-bodied distillate with smokey, spicy and floral notes. The still was reconstructed in 2006 using the same Greenheart wood as the original - a native Guyanese lumber favoured in the construction of jetties due to its resistance to moisture. The wood is also said to add complexity and richness to the distillate. But it's not just the wood, it's the residue of previous distillations that gets ingrained into the wood, so as a pre-renovation distillation, this bottling will be noteworthy for rum mavens. Drawn from a single x-rum cask after full-term continental ageing, 242 bottles are on offer at a natural strength of 54.2% Alc./Vol. Non chill filtered.

Other reviews... Colour: white wine. Nose: high-ester rum, pretty pure, with 'a sense of' mezcal and olives, many fermentary smells, leaven, very distant whiffs of durian, anchovies, brine and all that. In short, it's rather brilliant. With water: some acidic fruitiness coming on top (lemons, rhubarb, gooseberries) and even notes of bandages and ointments. Mouth (neat): pretty massive, appropriately dirty, salty, perhaps in the style of Versailles, or of that of several Jamaicans. Or of raw Talisker. Bags of olives and anchovies. With water: similar, with also a dirtyish grassiness. Fresh compost and old hay, perhaps. Finish: rather long, on just the same kinds of notes. Dirty aftertaste – the kind of dirt we enjoy in rum. Comments: some very excellent salty rum. I've tried a wee blend with 50% this and 50% Talisker and I have to say I'm pretty proud as that pushed the citrus to the stratosphere. Sadly that also generated some soapiness. 89 points - whiskyfun.com