Cadenhead‘s Enmore MEV 1990

Bottled by the long-established Scottish house Cadenhead's, this is a 1990 Demerara from the Enmore estate carrying 26 years of age. The MEV marque belongs to the contested wooden-still codes, with reviewers reading it as Versailles, so the dependable description is the wooden pot still itself: dry, woody and built on pencil and timber rather than fruit.

A quarter century in ex-bourbon has made wood the dominant note, balanced by pear, citrus and a thread of esters, with anise and vanilla underneath and a smoky, herbal finish. Bottled at 57.2% cask strength, it drinks with real grip and a sweet, lightly bitter edge. For those who enjoy older Guyanese profiles in the Versailles and Uitvlugt vein, it offers that pencil-box fruit with extra age and punch.