Bristol Diamond (Port Mourant) Old Demerara Rum (Port Cask Maturation) 1990

A Port Mourant 1990 from Bristol Classic Rum, the English house long devoted to closed and heritage-distillery bottlings. It comes off the icon among Guyana's heritage stills, the double wooden pot built from greenheart that no modern still can replicate, and at 32 years it carries deep maturity at a notably restrained strength.

Maturated from molasses and finished in a port cask at 46.7%, it noses on citrus, red fruit, wood and molasses, then turns woody, spicy and fruity with leather, the finish bringing burnt sugar, wood and a bitter edge. Despite the moderate proof the long ageing keeps it compact and full rather than diluted, the port adding dark fruit to the Port Mourant frame. Bottled in the house's mostly purist style, it is a dry, wood-led old Demerara that some will find leans tannic at the close, best taken slowly.