Guyana Rum 2005 Transcontinental Rum Line #11 Cask Strength

This rum was distilled at Diamond by Demerara Distillers Ltd, the company formed by the government in Guyana in 1983 after it consolidated all of its nationalised rum distillers as a single entity, using a single distillery. Established around 1670, the Diamond Estate is the only remaining rum distiller in Guyana. Diamond blends its own El Dorado brand using various combinations of marques from its rum-producing stills, which include the pair of two-column English coffey stills, installed there in the 1950s and a rarely used high-ester John Dore pot still. These operate alongside the “Heritage Stills” acquired from Uitvlugt in 1999, which are Uitvlugt’s own historic four-column French Savalle stills, the Versailles and Port Mourant wooden pot stills, and the Enmore wooden coffey still, the oldest and last of its kind in the world. El Dorado was launched in 1992, but the distillery has continued its historic practice of providing barrels to independent bottlers, resulting is a wealth of impressive releases like this.

Bottled at a cask strength of 58.1% ABV from a batch of two casks, aged under 1 year in Guyana and just short of 12 years in continental weather, which allows for a slower maturation than in tropical climates.

La Maison du Whisky, aka LMDW, was founded in 1956 by Georges Benitah and is now one of the largest whisky and rum importers and distributors in France, and known the world over. They opened their first shop in Paris at the legendary 20 Rue d'Anjou in 1968, importing their first Scotch malt whiskies in the 1970s. They are known for their expertise in not only Scotch, but Japanese whisky and rum too, and their collaborative bottlings, as well as their own independent labels like this one, are highly prized.