Spring Spirits Uitvlugt Rum by Spring Spirits 1997

Spring Spirits Uitvlugt 1997 is a single cask Demerara from the closed Uitvlugt estate, here a pot still expression bottled by the German outfit Spring Spirits. Uitvlugt is prized for its refined, fruity, lightly spiced character, and as a 1997 vintage from a lost estate this is the kind of finite, irreplaceable Guyana rum that collectors track.

Matured in ex-bourbon wood for nearly 25 years and bottled unsweetened at 46.9%, the rum takes its time in the glass and needs a good half hour to open up. Patience is repaid with a nose of almond, old wood and a floral lift, while the palate stays in the same register with almond, wood, spice and a dry, gently bitter edge. This is a contemplative, slow-building Uitvlugt that asks the drinker to wait, then settles into an elegant, nutty old Demerara with no sweetness masking the cask.