Spirit Gallery Port Mourant Port Mourant 2012

A single cask Port Mourant from Spirit Gallery, drawn off the legendary double wooden pot still built from greenheart, a configuration no modern still can replicate. Port Mourant is the heaviest and most distinctive of Guyana's heritage stills, usually pungent with anise and liquorice, but this 13 year old leans into its richer, sweeter-smelling side and offers strong value within the marque.

Maturated from molasses in a port cask at near cask strength, it noses on hazelnut, milk chocolate, praline and pastry, then turns drier and more savoury on the palate with roasted nuts, spice, burnt sugar and wood, closing on coffee, tobacco and pepper. Unsweetened and forceful at 62.9%, it reads as a direct, chocolate-forward take on Port Mourant rather than the fully layered oily-liquorice powerhouse, rewarding slow sipping with a drop of water.