CDI Uitvlugt 1997

Compagnie des Indes, the French house prized for natural, terroir led single casks, bottled this 1997 Uitvlugt off the Savalle still for the Danish market. Uitvlugt is usually the refined, fruity end of the Demerara range, but this cask shows a heavier, more ester driven side, with the varnish and rubber notes that mark a characterful Guyanese spirit. At eighteen years and cask strength, it is unsweetened and full of presence.

Molasses based and matured in ex-bourbon oak, it noses on varnish, rubber, fruit and tar, then turns heavy on the palate with cherry, mango and a dry edge before a fruity, dry, intense finish. There is acacia honey and burnt sugar in there too, the markers of an old Savalle Uitvlugt. At 57.9% it has real weight and depth, more muscular than the typical clean Uitvlugt, and it rewards patient sipping. A bold, fruity and dry single cask from a bottler with a strong reputation for Demerara.