Versailles El Dorado Special Cask Finish White Port Casks 2005

This carries the El Dorado name but shows the raw side of DDL, a 16 Year Old drawn off the Versailles single wooden pot still, the robust, tannic middle ground between the lighter Enmore Coffey and the heavier Port Mourant. Distilled in 2005 and given a white port cask finish, it stays unsweetened at 55.3%, a long way from the rounded, dosed El Dorado age statements most people know.

The port casks bring blackberry, plum and raisin, but the Versailles backbone holds firm underneath, dry sawn wood, dark fruit and the leather and strong black tea that mark this still. Expect a dry, slightly bitter palate where the finish dominates, woody and port-soaked with a touch of cocoa and a faint metallic edge. The double maturation rounds the spirit without smoothing away its Guyanese character. This is one for drinkers who already lean towards the drier, more austere Demeraras and want to see what a port finish does to a wet wood pot still rum, not a soft after-dinner pour.