Milano Rum Festival & Barmetro Port Mourant 2008

This Port Mourant from the 2008 vintage was bottled for the Milano Rum Festival and Barmetro, a ten year old single cask. Port Mourant runs off the double wooden pot still, Guyana's heaviest and most distinctive, though this younger bottling shows a noticeably fruit forward side of that mark rather than full tar and timber.

Molasses based and matured in port wood to a dry finish, it surprises with brightness. The nose is full of yellow fruit, mirabelle, pear and a honeyed sweetness, the palate is silky and led by fruit with anise, wood and a touch of menthol, and the finish turns peppery and dry with honey and fruit. The molasses richness sits underneath it all. At 57 percent it stays lively and drinkable neat, a fresher, fruitier take on Port Mourant for drinkers who want the still without its full weight.