April Auction starts Friday 12 April. Bottle deadline 8 April.

Uitvlugt SP-ICBU 1988 Velier 17 Year Old

Lot: 6028235

Uitvlugt SP-ICBU 1988 Velier 17 Year Old

Winning Bid: £6,000
(Reserve has been met) This lot currently has: 19 bids

Currency Estimate

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Lot:
Distillery: 
Uitvlugt
Age: 
17 year old
Vintage: 
1988
Region: 
Guyana
Bottler: 
Velier
Cask Type: 
n/a
Bottled Strength: 
52.9%
Bottle Size: 
70cl
Distillery Status: 
Closed
Production method: 
four-column savalle still
Base: 
guyana molasses
product Details

Uitvlugt SP-ICBU 1988 Velier 17 Year Old

Velier was founded by Casimir Chaix in Genoa in 1947 as a wine and spirits importer and distributor. By the 1980s they were still a small family-company with less than ten staff. This all changed in 1986 when it was purchased by Luca Gargano, a former brand ambassador for Saint James who was at the time still in his twenties. Under his direction, they selected their first single cask whiskies in 1992, and their first rum in 1996. In the decades that followed, Velier have gone on to become one of the most collectible brands in the industry, and Gargano has positioned them as the one of the foremost authorities and bottlers of rum anywhere in the world.

Velier's earliest Demerara releases were bottled in 1996, laying the groundwork for what would later become affectionately known as the "Age of Velier's Demerara." This began in earnest in 2004, after Gargano was invited to the Demerara Distillers Ltd warehouses in Guyana to select tropically aged barrels to be bottled by Velier for the first time. The "age" only lasted until 2015, but has an enduring legacy of having indelibly raised the profile of the historic rum stills and marque's of Guyana, which have become some of the most sought after in the world, these Velier releases in particular.

All four barrels contributing to this bottle were distilled on the Savalle still in 1988, each marked SP-ICBU. The latter acronym is the code for Uitvlugt distillery, the SP remains a mystery.

This was bottled in 2005 by Velier after ageing 17 years in tropical climate. The casks were selected by Luca Gargano. One of 1091 bottles.

Uitvlugt, pronounced [eye-flut] was located on the west bank of the Demerara river near the Dutch-established town of the same name. The distillery was established at the end of the 18th century and remained Dutch-owned until the government in Guyana began to nationalise and consolidate the country’s rum production in 1974. Thereafter it became part of the portfolio of Demerara Distillers Ltd (DDL), who closed it down at the end of 1999. Uitvlugt originally operated double wooden pot stills, however these were replaced by a four column French Savalle still in the early 1920s. A double wooden pot still was reinstalled in the 1950s however, moved there from the closed Port Mourant distillery. In addition, Uitvlugt also received the EHP wooden coffey still and Versailles single wooden pot still when DDL closed Enmore in 1994. These four are all now known as the “Heritage Stills,” and have remained operational since being moved to Diamond in 2000, the last remaining distillery in the country.

Important Notice

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Please note: Due to the various ages of bottles and their seals, condition of liquid is at the buyer's discretion and no claim can be lodged against failure/leakage in transit.