El Dorado Rum
Located on the east bank of the Demerara River in Georgetown, Guyana, Diamond Distillery represents over 350 years of Caribbean rum tradition. Under parent company Demerara Distillers Limited, or DDL, El Dorado offers an extensive range of some of the world’s finest rums, with each expression showcasing blends or single-still rums made using the estate’s historic stills.
As the last remaining distillery in Guyana and the sole producer of Demerara Rum—a protected geographical indication that stipulates strict rules of production for rums made exclusively in the Demerara region of Guyana—DDL’s Master Distiller, Shaun Caleb, and Master Blender, Sharon Sue-Hang-Baksh, craft authentic Demerara rums that faithfully draw from a history of Caribbean rum distillation.
At its peak in 1870, Guyana was home to over 300 sugar estates with their own distilleries, each producing signature rums identified by estate-specific marques, or production formulas. But between the sugarcane industry bottoming out in the early 1900s, Guyana’s colonial liberation in 1966, and years of subsequent political and economic turmoil, many estates either consolidated or shuttered completely. The last two rum producers became fully Guyanese owned in 1976, and by 1999, these estates were consolidated into one lone estate and distillery—Plantation Diamond. It is here where Demerara Distillers Limited now distills their fine rums in accordance with inherited marques that would otherwise be lost to the past, using some of the most unique and historic stills in the world.
Today, DDL houses several operational stills of different styles and composition, many of which were relocated from their original estates, capable of producing twenty-four different marques yielding distinct distillates that contribute to the complexity of the El Dorado range. Most notable of the stills are the world’s last two original wooden pot stills and the oldest operating wooden Coffey column still.
All expressions typically undergo an average twenty-six-hour closed fermentation before distillation. El Dorado rums are tropically aged, primarily in ex-bourbon casks, in two facilities on either side of the Demerara River, including the repurposed Uitvlugt Distillery. As one of the southernmost Caribbean countries, located just 350 miles from the equator, Guyana sports a hotter climate than many other rum producers, creating excellent maturation conditions.
Besides producing some of the world’s greatest rums, El Dorado is on a mission to create the smallest-possible environmental footprint through their waste-processing plants. Their bio-methane plant converts liquid waste from distillation into energy, providing over half the distillery’s power, and their carbon dioxide plant reduces the release of CO2 produced during fermentation by trapping, purifying, and liquefying it for industrial uses, including carbonation and dry-ice production. Additionally, El Dorado nurtures a close relationship with the communities in which they operate through the DDL Foundation, a charity committed to the development of youth programs that provides scholarships and developmental sports sponsorships to students in need.
Demerara Distillers Limited long ago anticipated the rising global demand for expertly crafted, well-aged rum and consistently delivers some of the finest spirits in the category, defining industry benchmarks along the way.
For DDL’s line of unaged and lightly aged rums, please see the brand Diamond Reserve.
