Velier Diamond & Port Mourant PM 1995

A Velier Demerara marrying Diamond's metal column with the Port Mourant double wooden pot still, the heaviest of Guyana's heritage stills. Velier, the Genoa house behind the most prized old Demeraras, aged this 1995 in the Guyanese tropics where losses run high and the spirit thickens, the column lending fruit and lift while the greenheart pot brings the oily, liquorice-laden backbone.

Matured from molasses and finished in port wood at 62.1%, it opens on pineapple, citrus and espresso with an earthy edge, then turns to allspice, tobacco and mango before a long finish of oak, liquorice and old varnished timber. Bottled at cask strength and unsweetened, it is a dense, demanding pour that rewards water, time and patience, the port adding dark fruit without softening the structure. A serious old-school Demerara for those already at home with full-proof intensity.