Capulet & Montague Brands GmbH Uitvlugt Bonpland 1999

This Bonpland Uitvlugt 1999 is a near twenty year old Guyanese rum bottled in Germany by Capulet and Montague Brands, matured in ex-bourbon wood and reduced to 45 percent. It draws on the Savalle column that ran at Uitvlugt, generally the refined and fruity end of Demerara, bottled here in the dry independent manner.

The nose offers honey, young wood, dried apricot and pencil shavings, with the palate turning woody, metallic and a little apple-like, and a short finish dominated by that graphite, pencil note. Honest drinkers find this a divisive bottling where the wood and metallic edge can run ahead of the fruit and the finish falls away quickly. It sits at the leaner, drier side of Uitvlugt, a woody and graphite-led example best approached for its dry character rather than richness.