Berry Bros & Rudd Diamond Rum 2013

Berry Bros and Rudd chose this single cask of Diamond from the 2013 vintage, a ten year old Guyanese rum bottled at full cask strength. Diamond is where all of Guyana's surviving stills now live, and the dried fruit and old wood signature here reads as the firmer Port Mourant end of the house rather than the lighter Savalle column.

Matured in ex-bourbon oak and molasses based, it needs time in the glass to settle. Once rested it gives varnished wood and old leather, dried fruits and raisin, liquorice, orange and a distinctly medicinal, lightly smoked thread, with caramel rounding the edges. At 63.5 percent it runs hot and concentrated, woody without the timber swamping everything, and the long finish of fruit and spice carries the strength. This is a serious, slow pour rather than a casual one, best given air and a patient palate.