My second review of a rum from The Duchess’ Tropical Flowers series. My previous review was about their 28 year old which was also from Guyana (Enmore Distillery) – you can find it here along with some intro on The Duchess.
This 20 year old Guyanese juice was distilled in 1998 in the Enmore wooden column still at Diamond Distillery. It’s made from molasses and aged for 20 years, the last 8 being in an ex-Armagnac cask – I’ll assume mostly continental but I can’t be sure. Bottled in 2019 at 50.8% ABV, additive-free and no colouring added, this is one of 243 bottles, so a bit limited. Going in!
On the nose feels creamy and fruity. Peach yoghurt, white grapes, green and red apples and custard. Some musty oak beneath all that with a hint of spice and some nuts. It’s lighter than what I would normally expect from a Guyanese distillate and I have trouble getting more. I guess I’ll just have to start tasting it.
On the palate it has more body. Plenty of wood followed by a dry vermouth kind of taste. The grapes and sweet and sour apples are back along with vanilla, walnuts and lemon zest. A slight toffee-dark chocolate note mid palate that fades away pretty fast. If I look for it I think can find some of that Demerara in the background but it’s too faded to distinguish… or maybe it’s just my imagination. I know this has been mentioned in other reviews, but the finish isn’t long and quite acidic with grapefruit zest, wood spice with a hint of mango aroma
As I mentioned before this is lighter than I was expecting from a bottle that has a huge Guyana on the label. I’m not saying it’s bad, just surprising. And I’ve read thefatrumpirate‘s review before trying it. Basically don’t expect what you would usually expect from a DDL juice.
Come to think about it this can actually be a good example of why I love rum – it can surprise you with it’s diversity even when it isn’t adulterated or use any dodgy process in the production. This is a different take (intentional or not) on a Demerara rum that I’m not used to and I don’t hate it.
The Duchess 20 Year Old Armagnac Finish – Enmore score:
Flavour/taste: 55/70
Value for money: 12/15
Transparency/purity: 15/15
Overall: 82/100
Cheers!