Rum Runner Rhum Enmore 30 ans 53.2°° (53.2° proof)

Rum Runner Rhum Enmore 30 ans is a molasses rum from the Demerara Distillers Limited winery in British Guiana.

The rum was distilled in June 1991 at the Enmore distillery (closed in 1995) in a wooden still called Versailles. It bears the KFM mark (MEK at the broker = Main Enmore KFM), a reference to Kenneth Francis McKenzie, former owner of the Lusignan plantation where the cane was grown.

The rum was then aged in ex-bourbon oak barrels, before being released 30 years later, in September 2021. A total of 332 bottles were bottled brut de fût, i.e. without any reduction in alcohol content.

Nico's tasting notes

The nose undeniably reveals a very old eau-de-vie, with the concentration one would expect. A few fine hints of solvent hasten to clear the scene, leaving the way clear for cherry pits, cocoa, prunes and melted, molasses-laden tannins.

Aeration brings back some of the rum's youthfulness, with memories of a fairly hot distillate with sharp, coppery accents. This character blends effortlessly with that of toasted oak, to deliver a now drier, more serious approach.

The palate is both sweet and astringent, with silky alcohol meeting a metallic, coppery aspect that warms the palate. Strongly roasted nuts and burnt oak develop nuances of charcoal, black coffee, molasses or very old cherries in brandy. Black fruit tannins also contribute to this marked, yet mysteriously pastry-like bitterness.

The finish is as dry as gunpowder, and the dusty tannins hold sway for quite a while.

"A specimen in a class of his own, a Demerara to the core who has cleaned all the blackness from his barrel..."