Rum Nation Enmore British Rum 1997

Rum Nation bottled this Enmore 1997 as a twenty-five year old at cask strength, 59 percent, from the Enmore site that runs the world's last operating wooden Coffey still. This sits in Rum Nation's drier Rare Rums tier rather than its softer Spanish-style range, an unsweetened, deeply aged Guyanese rum.

Matured in ex-bourbon wood, the nose is rich with chocolate, dried dates, barrel and wood, the palate oaky over dried dates, barrel and roasted notes, finishing woody and roasted with a citrus and drying, cardboard edge. It is notably well balanced, with citrus and wood reading together, while the continental ageing gives a gentler, less powerful Enmore than a tropically matured equivalent. The long, cool maturation has built a dark, wood-and-dried-fruit profile, a refined older Enmore that trades raw still power for depth and poise.