Bristol Port Mourant 2010

Bristol Classic Rum, the long-running English specialist in closed and heritage distillery bottlings, reduced this 2010 Port Mourant to a gentle 45%, an 11 Year Old that shows the marque in an unusually approachable, fruit-led format. PM is the heaviest of the Demerara recipes, distilled on the double wooden greenheart pot still, but here a careful dilution opens the fruit rather than the tar.

The nose leads with peaches, pear and plum, and the palate brings burnt sugar, tropical fruit and a whisky-like edge over molasses, with orange peel, espresso and light oak on a clean, oily finish. This is continental aged, so the wood stays gentle and the spirit keeps its clarity. The reduction is well chosen, giving a softer, more contemplative reading of Port Mourant without losing the classic Demerara core. For drinkers curious about PM but not yet ready for full proof bottles, this makes an easy, instructive sipper, equally at home as a relaxed evening pour.