The Demerara river runs heavy and brown through Guyana, and its name has been attached to rum for longer than anyone can properly account for. At Plantation Diamond stands the country's last surviving distillery. Everything else has closed, been dismantled, forgotten — but the stills and the recipes made it through. This is where Rum Nation sources the molasses distillate for their solera.
The expert's description
Rum Nation Demerara Solera No 14 is a Demerara Rum from Guyana, matured in ex-Bourbon casks with a 12 month finish in Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez Sherry casks, bottled at 40%.
The rum is distilled from sugar cane molasses at Demerara Distillers' Diamond Distillery, today the only remaining distillery in Guyana. Rum Nation blends pot still distillate, which brings weight and estery depth, with column still distillate that keeps the rum easy to drink. The blend is built in a solera system where casks of differing ages are continually topped up, so each bottling tastes consistent with the last rather than carrying an age statement.
Main maturation happens in used American oak casks from Bourbon, laying down vanilla and a creamy sweetness underneath everything else. Then follow 12 months in fresh Sherry casks that previously held Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez, and this is where the spice, the raisins and the dark chocolate arrive. Finally a small proportion of very old Enmore rum is added to the blend, pulling the whole thing in a deeper, more estery direction. Colouring has been added.
Demerara Solera No 14 belongs to Rum Nation's permanent core range and has been on the market long enough to serve as a reference point for what medium-sweet Demerara rum tastes like at the softer end of the scale.
Tasting notes
Nose
Dark and faintly musty in the good sense. Concentrated molasses first, then mocha, cola and white chocolate, with bergamot and a clear waft of barbecue smoke behind it.
Palate
Syrup-heavy and velvet-smooth. Molasses, dark chocolate, coffee and raisins, spiced up with cinnamon, clove, orange peel and black pepper. It dries out towards the end and shows oak.
Finish
Long and sweet, almost vermouth-like, with liquorice, aniseed and leather. A bitter herbal note sits beneath the sweetness and hangs around well after the last sip.
Specifications
Name: Rum Nation Demerara Solera No 14
Distillery: Demerara Distillers Diamond Distillery
Bottler: Rum Nation
Region/Country: Demerara, Guyana
Type: Demerara Rum
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Cask type: Ex-Bourbon casks, finished for 12 months in Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez Sherry casks
Natural colour: No
Distillation method: Blend of pot still and column still
EAN no.: 8033749400178
Serving suggestion: Neat in a tulip glass at room temperature, or as the base of an Old Fashioned
Flavour profile
Sweet · Spicy · Sherry-finished · Molasses · Dark chocolate
Did you know?
Rum Nation is Danish-owned. Mac Y bought the brand in 2018, and Fabio Rossi, who founded it in Italy in 1999, stayed on as blender. An Italian bottling of Guyanese rum carrying a Danish passport.
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