Barikenn Diamond Diamond Port Mourant PM 2012

Barikenn drew this 10 Year Old from a single port cask, a 2012 Port Mourant marque distilled at Diamond, where Guyana's heritage stills now live. Aged in cooler Europe and left unsweetened at 51%, it makes an honest and well-priced way into the continental PM style, easy enough to drink yet serious enough to hold attention through a focused tasting.

Port Mourant comes off the double wooden greenheart pot still, and its signature runs right through this bottle, salty liquorice, anise and the wet sawn timber no modern still can copy. Here it leans toward the dessert end of the marque, caramel and dark chocolate up front with coffee, a little oak bite and light tropical fruit, the port cask lending a faint colour and gentle dark fruit. The palate stays dry and a touch bitter, woody and tannic into a spiced finish. There is none of the heavy sweetness of an El Dorado, just the still's character given room to speak at a manageable strength.