Looking for malternatives in Guyana


June 5, 2016

Looking for malter-natives in Guyana
Let’s have more rum from the Demerara region of Guyana, including Georgetown the capital city and its well-known distillery Diamond. Some officials, some independents… We’ll see what we can fin.

Demerara Solera N°14 (40%, Rum Nation, Guyana, 2012)

We’ve tried an earlier release of this baby six or seven years ago, and found it very sweet. Let’s see… Colour: deep amber. Nose: rich, honeyed, marmalade-y, with molasses and Demerara sugar. A very rounded rum, but it’s got a few some esters and other deeper notes in the background. Mouth: very sweet, with some coffee, Nutella, praline, milk chocolate, maple syrup, bananas flambéed… Good mouth feel though, not too thick. Finish: medium, sweet, with some Kahlua and raisins in the aftertaste. Cassata, tiramisu… No wonder the excellent bottlers are Italian ;-). Comments: amongst the very sweet rums, it’s probably one of the deeper ones. So not my preferred style at all (please take that into account with my scores), but I’m sure lovers of sweeter rums will enjoy it. Still beats many a Dominican sugar bomb! SGP:820 - 72 points.

Plantation Guyana 2005 (45%, Plantation, +/-2015)

I usually find Plantation’s rums too sweetened up for my taste, but quite strangely, I had liked their Guyana 1988 a while back (WF 84). Let’s see… Colour: gold. Nose: indeed it feels drier, more phenolic than the Rum Nation, so I guess it’s rather pot still rum this time. Nice notes of tar, wood polish, and I even find drops of engine oil, beyond the many whiffs of overripe bananas. Mouth: too bad they added so much sugar, this time it feels, with a syrupy mouth feel and a syrupy taste. Pineapple liqueur, jams, jelly beans… But the Demeraraness remains easily noticeable, with some liquorice and some tar again. Also tobacco, and Korean plum wine. Exactly. Finish: short, sugary, a little caramelised, with touches of raisins and molasses honey (what they often call honey in South America, while it’s totally molasses-based. No bees involved in the process). Comments: still very okay, but this time the sugar was much more noticeable. SGP:731 - 75 points.

XM 15 yo 'Supreme' (40%, OB, Guyana, +/-2015)

XM is a Guyanan brand owned by Banks. I had found their 12 very okay but too sweet yet again (WF 76) and their 10 a little brighter (WF 78). Colour: dark gold. Nose: banana jelly, sugar cane (hurray), touches of metal (tin box), and then rather ‘good pina colada’, with some coconut. Touches of camphor and menthol, which is nice. In truth it’s a rather complex and fairly fresh nose, it’s just a little too light for me. Mouth: very sweet, but there’s some ‘stuff’ behind that. Earl grey tea, lemongrass, praline, walnut wine, pecan pie… And always this metallic feeling in the background, rather nice. Only the body’s a little thin. Finish: short, but relatively fresh, with more herbal teas, angelica, touches of oranges… Comments: high quality rum, for sure. More power, less sweetness, and we would be thrilled. Sort of. SGP:641 - 78 points.

Pusser's 15 yo (40%, OB, blend, +/-2015)

A classic ‘navy’ brand that blends rums from Guyana and Trinidad (and possibly other places, no one seems to agree on the Interweb). What could go wrong, apart from excessive (added) sugariness? Colour: full gold. Nose: ‘nice’, as they say. Well, it’s rum, and good rum at that. Molasses and sugar cane, stewed oranges, chocolate, roasted peanuts, corn syrup, and a leafy/tobacco-ish side in the background, which adds dimension. Mouth: another very sweet one, not much luck today. You really feel the sugar, beyond the marmalade, the pineapple syrup, the Malibu and the Cointreau. In fact, it’s ultra-sweet. Finish: medium, sweet, a little cloying. Comments: way too syrupy for me, but the core seems to be nice, with a pleasant fruitiness. They should try to make a ‘natural’ version. Yeah, ‘rum’, and not liqueur. SGP:731 - 70 points.

Good, I’m sure we already downed the equivalent of one can of Coca-Cola. Let’s get serious!

Versailles 2003 (40%, Mezan, Guyana, +/-2015)

Distilled at Diamond using the ex-Versailles single wooden pot still. No, nothing to do with Louis the 14th. Samaroli have had a stunning Versailles a few years ago (1990, WF 90), so deep hopes at WF Towers. Colour: white wine. Nose: white wine indeed. A crisp, saline, mineral style that borders that of a crisp, saline, mineral riesling from around Hunawihr/Riquewihr. Fresh walnuts and green apples on top of that, plus some coal tar and pitch. Mezan keep amazing me with their 100% distillate-driven selections. Mouth: perfect. Not one of the most phenolic or dundery rums, but the leafy/grassy side is just magnificent, extremely elegant and complex. Asparagus (white!), olives, tar, ink, ashes… It just tends to become a little drying, perhaps. Finish: rather long and very ashy. Comments: this at 50% vol.! I know that’s a boring mantra, but it’s true. Anyway, another truly excellent Mezan. SGP:362 - 88 points.

So he asked for more power!

El Dorado Versailles 2002/2015 (63%, OB, Guyana, Rare Collection, bourbon barrels)

The newish OB! Entirely aged in Guyana, where they have very greedy angels. The volumes go down fast, while the strengths remain high or even go up. Colour: gold. Nose: it seems that it’s a little simpler than the Mezan, but that’s probably the super-high strength. What I seem to find in the background is a bag of vegetables and herbs, such as capers (which is a flower, isn’t it?), and plenty of wood varnish, with an acetone-y side. Let’s dig deeper… With water: as expected, this is more wood-driven than the Ultra-clean Mezan, with a BTAC side (yup) and plenty of tarmac, tarry wood (restored old boat, teak oil), and just ideas of ‘brand new sneakers’. Mouth (neat): huge. Distilled vin jaune, mint essence, artichoke, concentrated walnut oil… All that is spectacular and, I have to say, wonderful. Huge distillate. With water: very extremely good. Please call the anti-rumporn brigade! Finish: very long, big and yet elegant and ‘well-chiselled’, always with a lot of tar (and other tar-like elements, pitch and such). Droplets of lemon in the aftertaste. Comments: like, I mean love it much more than the Port Mourant in the same series. Ça c’est un alcool, monseigneur, as they would have said at Versailles (the castle). SGP:473 - 90 points.

Oh well, we could as well try their newish Enmore…

El Dorado Enmore 1993/2015 (56.5%, OB, Guyana, Rare Collection, bourbon barrels)

The problem is that DDL have been too optimistic with their prices, as it seems. I had thought these new OBs would sell like Mars bars in Scotland, but the hefty prices (a disease called scotchitus severis) seem to have discouraged most rum lovers, and the bottles remain available from just everywhere on this planet. After all, they’re afraid of nothing, them who just launched a $500,000 50 yo rum. Now that's Guyanan dollars, and that's a 50 yo look-alike - you know, nasty 'anniversary' bottlings that suggest a 'faked' age and all that, some Scots do it as well. Colour: deep gold. Nose: much gentler, easier, without the phenolic base, and with more ‘average’ rum aromas, such as tropical fruits, papayas, pineapples… It’s really lovely, and at times you’re thinking about rhum agricole from Martinique, but there’s also a little too much sweet oak, in the modern Scotch style. Let’s see… With water: wood spices, unsweetened tea, vanilla… Mouth (neat): a bourbon of rum, clearly. Or a light spirit in some very active American oak. Vanilla, maple syrup, orange liqueur, a touch of ginger liqueur… With water: once again we’re between rum and bourbon. It’s fine, and I do enjoy these notes of artisan maple syrup, it’s just that the Versailles kills it. Finish: medium, sweet, bourbony. Vanilla and pineapples. Comments: don’t get me wrong, it’s excellent rum, but the traditional Demeraraness (excuse me?) is a little absent. A strong light rum. SGP:541 - 81 points.

A last one please, and let’s make in another Enmore…

Enmore 32 yo 1971/2003 ‘XPD’ (61.8%, Cadenhead, Cask Strength, Guyana)

We’re entering collectable territories now. So ex-wooden Coffey still again, in theory from the original distillery, as the still was only moved to Diamond in 1993. Partially aged in the UK, my dear. Colour: coffee. Nose: bang! Walnut stain, wood varnish, cedar wood, pencil shavings, and… Jamon Iberico. And oloroso, by the way, but I may be dreaming. Needs water. With water: mega funny. Twenty effervescent aspirin tablets in one glass, grandpa’s mouthwash (do you know Eau de Botot?), a carpenter’s workshop, Indian ink, gloss paint… And also beef stock, beef jerky, Grisons meat… And more and more mint essence. Mouth (neat): a huge concoction, super-extractive, varnishy, mentholy, medicinal… But quite curiously, there’s some kind of balance to this. A miracle? With water: one of the greatest oak-driven spirits out there, and I wouldn’t claim there are many of them. Liquorice, varnish, walnut wine, cloves, caraway… And pastis, aniseed, absinth… And god knows what else. Finish: very long, as if you’d just eaten the wardrobe. Quite. Comments: a spirit you’ll remember forever. In fact, it was a monster. SGP:482 - 92 points.

You know, when you’ve had some rich dinner, and when you’ve had Sauternes, or Port with the cheese and desert, you sometimes feel like you’d need a glass of Champagne to clean everything up. That’s how we feel just now, so please, Champagne…

Diamond 10 yo 2005/2015 (46%, Hunter Laing, Kill Devil, 310 bottles)

This from El Dorado’s home distillery, but I’m sure it’ll be much less sugary/sweet than the house’s official offerings. And much less coloured. Colour: white wine (rather cabsauv than chard). Nose: which stills were used, I don’t know, but I find this very Versailles-y. Leaves, grasses, and tars, that’s what I get. And rubber tree, fresh almonds, new leatherette, those new sneakers, a little seawater, a je-ne-sais-quoi (if it’s well Versailles, better speak French) that screams ‘old medicine’, more rubber… Pretty a-commercial, which is great. Mouth: fantastic. Perfect balance between heavy tar and fresh tropical fruits, with some supreme elegance. No, really. Chlorophyll, mint, dried bananas, sugar cane, salted liquorice, earth (earthy rums are the best!), roots… I find this exceptional, more or less Springbank-alike. Finish: long, on the same flavours, plus a welcome citrusy signature that lifts it to the angels (come on). Comments: a surprise. I’ve now tried a few of Hunter Laing’s new rums, and I have to say I’m totally impressed. The strength is perfect (46%). Totally and plainly malternative rum, a Lagavulin of Guyana. Kind of. SGP:364 - 91 points.

What a session! Okay, a very last one…

Uitvlugt 17 yo 1998 (52%, Sansibar, Guyana, cask #45, 237 bottles)

Colour: pale gold. Nose: a lighter style, less ‘heavy’ (no kiddin’), sweeter, and much more sugary, without being sugary, if that makes any sense. It’s rather what’s in the background that’s more interesting, such as moss, herbs, fern, lichen… But globally, it’s rather sugary, candy-like rum. With water: gets a little medicinal. Chalk and aspirin, plus mown lawn. Mouth (neat): good, sweet and citrusy, with a fairly thin body (after the Versailles and Diamond!) Candy sugar, orange sweets and drops, and once again these herbs that remind me of that Swiss specialty called Ricola. Pronounce Ricolllllllllllla (you may add ‘hoppla!’) With water: more on sugar cane, with a little lemon and orange. Finish: medium, easy, light. Comments: the lighter side of Demerara this time. Perhaps is it time to call this a tasting session. SGP:551 - 81 points.

(With thanks to Francesco, Luca, Cyril, and gang)

Check the index of all rums I've tasted so far