From time to time I explore spirits other than Scotch whisky. It's good to broaden your palate, try new things, see what else is out there - and when you come back, it gives you a renewed appreciation for old favorites, and sometimes a new slant on flavor.
I recently had a fantastic (and extremely funky) overproof Jamaican rum (Hampden Estates) from Smith and Cross, a London bottler, and decided to try again with a type of rum I've never had - Guyanese rum made on the east bank of Demerara river in the capital of Georgetown.
Guyana is one of the original rum producers in the Caribbean. The Dutch imported sugar cane, and reclaimed/refarmed a lot of the coastal land, and within a few decades there were 300+ distilleries on the shores of the Demerara river (!). These days, there is just one - Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL). I think their most popular imprint is El Dorado rum; at least, it's the one I see the most.
DDL still uses an original 250+ year old wooden column still (!) made of local greenheart wood. Supposedly this imparts much of the famously robust, earthy flavor of Guyanese rum.
This particular bottle of rum was aged for 12 years in a refill ex-bourbon barrel, and bottled at an overproofed 61.4% ABV. Here are the official tasting notes:
We were astonished by the swaggering bravado of this Guyana rum; the nose had blackcurrant jam, leather, sugar-coated fennel seeds, pastel de nata, stewed prunes, red liquorice, banana liqueur mixed with calvados and the aftermath of a Bunsen burner accident. The palate had the intense sweetness of nut brittle, cinnamon toast, caramelised banana, desiccated coconut sweetie tobacco, sugar-coated fennel seeds and honey and menthol Tunes. Adding water turned the nose to a slab of ripe pineapple wrapped in a tobacco leaf. The palate found spiced dates, dark toffee and spun sugar – the whole experience definitely crying out for companionable cigar.
A fascinating list - I am personally hoping to encounter the tobacco and honey. Let's see how it compares to the exceptionally funky Jamaican rum I had in Smith and Cross:
Nose: This is interesting: overripe bananas (expected) and freshly sliced grilled peppered steak (unexpected). New leather jackets. Fennel. Hints of black fruit (plums/prunes). This nose is extremely fragrant and very complex.
Although it's not whisky, I added a little water out of curiosity. The nose immediately got more herbal and meatier (!). I have no conception of what makes a rum "meaty" compared to Scotch, but it's present here in spades. With water, honey sweetness emerges clearly as well. Pineapple also. Water recommended.
Mouthfeel: Chewy. Medium thickness.
Palate: Surprisingly dry, earthy flavors emerge in the mouth. Dirt, tree bark, moss, tobacco leaves, nut husks, more banana, more fennel ... wow. *VERY* earthy palate here. I've never had a rum quite like this. It's super reminiscent of dried tobacco leaf.
With water, this sweetens up immensely. Honey on a flambeed banana. A little refined sugar. All the earthy flavors recede into the background, but never disappear. I recommend a little water here, for balance.
Finish: Pretty much follows the palate, a very quick fade-out of dry-ish earthier flavors. A little smoke? Hard to say. Licorice, maybe.
Verdict: Well, this is in the same general ballpark as the Smith and Cross - a weird, funky rum filled with unorthodox flavors - but it's definitely a different take entirely. So dry! So earthy! The underlying banana sweetness is the same, but it goes in different directions. I'm a fan of this, and look forward to spending more time with this bottle. It definitely does exhibit "staggering bravado."
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