The Whisky Jury Jamaica & Guyana 1995

The Whisky Jury Jamaica & Guyana 1995 is a single cask marriage of two of rum's great origins, Jamaican pot still funk and the heritage stills of Guyana's Demerara, vatted young and then aged together for thirty years. Bottled at a measured 45.5%, the long European maturation means gentle, low-loss ageing, so this carries its three decades with grace rather than heavy oak.

The early marriage and the long rest have produced a genuinely harmonious result. The nose offers toffee, banana and a woody depth, the Jamaican fruit and Demerara richness folded together. The palate is deep and rounded, brown sugar and molasses over sweet tropical fruit, before a finish that turns dry and spicy with dark chocolate. There is none of the disjointed quality that sometimes troubles Jamaica and Guyana blends, the two origins instead reading as one mature, balanced whole. A serious, long-aged pour for those who value old Caribbean rum left to settle for the long haul.