What is it? This rum is a molasses based rum from the Diamond distillery in Guyana, specifically from the Port Mourant double wooden pot still – making this a Pure Single Rum . It was distilled in 2005 and I believe it was bottled in 2015/2016 making the rum 10 years of age. Recently Mezan have changed their labelling to show more information on ageing and bottling, but this is an old bottle so there isn’t much to go off. From what I understand, and certainly get from the tasting, is that this is European aged rum.

Not coloured, not chill filtered and bottled at 40% abv.

Nose: Quite pungent, you can smell it from quite a way off, so I’ve high hopes for this. Really fruity at the start with bananas, guava, papaya, a lovely light blossom honey and a whole host of fresh flowers – summer in a glass! The deeper in you get it starts to show it’s savoury side with aniseed, red peppers, fennel seeds, light liquorice, liquorice root, fresh ginger and menthol.

Palate: Medium mouth. Not so much fruit here, lots of fennel tea, aniseed balls, ginger again, brine, shellfish and some tarragon. It’s very herbal and really quite spicy. There is a dried banana note in there and a touch of sharp mango, but not much.

Finish: Medium. Spicy from the ginger and white pepper, but there is a softer more buttery side as it progresses, a little horseradish sauce. Fruitier at the end with lots more bananas and that guava. A slight tannic note is the only evidence of any age.

Thoughts? Lovely nose but the palate and finish let it down. There are some good flavours and a bit of complexity but it feels too young. It’s very spirit driven, which is fine, but it needs to be approaching 50% abv if they’re relying on it’s spirit character alone. I’d say it needed fresher casks really to add more depth into the rum.

This cost me £35 back in 2017, which is a good solid buy and something a little different; naturally presented “raw” rum. I’m not sure I’d be buying this again though, even if there were any left about.