Bristol Port Mourant Demerara Rum 2008

Bristol Classic Rum is a long-running English specialist in closed-distillery and single-still bottlings, and this 2008 Port Mourant single cask draws on the double wooden pot still behind old navy Demerara. At ten years it is young for the marque, finished in Port and reduced to 43%, which strips back the usual oily heft into something leaner and greener.

The nose is spicy and vegetal with young wood and herbs, the palate turns bitter and saline with spice and grass, and the finish stays salty, fresh, minty and woody. This is a more austere, herbal reading of Port Mourant, the youth and dilution holding back the dark fruit and anise depth the still is famous for, and a pronounced bitterness runs through it. Honest about its character, it is a Port Mourant for drinkers who like the style dry, briny and herbal, and it earns its keep alongside food more than on its own.