Port Mourant Rum Sponge No. 9 1989

Decadent Drinks bottled this 1989 Port Mourant under its sought after Rum Sponge label, a thirty one year old drawn from the double wooden pot still built of greenheart, the icon and the heaviest of the Demerara stills. At this age the PM oil has settled into something deep, dry and contemplative, full of the marque's signature timber and dark fruit. It is bottled at a measured strength.

Molasses based, matured in oak and port, it noses on wood, dried fruit, black tea and pencil shavings, then carries leather, tobacco, black tea and earthy notes across the palate before a warm, dry, roasted finish. There is roasted spice, light coffee, faint chocolate and plum here, the grammar of an old, dry Port Mourant, with an aroma reminiscent of old books and dried plums. At 50% it pours richly and oily without the heat of cask strength. A deep, mature PM for drinkers who prize the dry, woody, tea laced side of old Demerara.