Samaroli DDL Demerara Rum 2002

This Samaroli Demerara 2002 is a single cask of Demerara Distillers stock, sixteen years old and bottled at the house's customary 45 percent. Samaroli's reputation rests on balanced, unsweetened single casks aged in cooler Europe, reduced to a strength that favours elegance over impact.

Matured in ex-bourbon wood, it noses woody with caramel, polish and tobacco, then turns smoky and warm on the palate over molasses and caramel, finishing woody, fruity and smoky. Drinkers place it among the medium-heavy Demerara rums, with the smoke, polish and molasses pointing to the woodier stills behind the blend. Bottled dry at a moderate proof, it is a rounded, smoky-and-sweet Guyanese single cask where the continental ageing keeps the wood in check and lets the molasses and tobacco notes carry.