🥃 Demerara Rum

If you know Demerara as the dark, full-bodied rum of Guyana, the name is more than a style: it is a protected EU geographical indication. Demerara Rum is rum fermented and distilled on the low coastal plain of Guyana's Demerara county, between the Boerasirie river and the Abary creek. It requires at least 40% ABV, prohibits flavouring, allows sweetening only up to 20 g/l and forbids blending with rum from other places.

The raw material is molasses or another sugar cane substrate from the same territory. Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast is propagated on molasses diluted with water from Demerara's artesian wells, and fermentation runs at about 32 °C up to 6-8% alcohol. Light and medium rum is distilled in continuous stills with 2-5 columns, heavy rum in single or double pot stills made of Amazonian greenheart wood, copper or stainless steel.

The technical file names two historic stills that are still in use: a double wooden pot still installed at the Port Mourant plantation in 1732 and the wooden Coffey column from the Enmore plantation (1880). By volatile-substance content the rum is divided into light (under 30 g per hectolitre of pure alcohol), medium (30-300) and heavy (over 300).

The distillate is diluted to 70-80% and aged mostly in American white oak casks in warehouses at 24-32 °C and about 70% humidity. Age-based names: Old Demerara Rum from 2 years, Cask Aged from 3, Special Reserve from 12, Grand Special Reserve from 25; the last three are bottled only in the area of origin. The application was filed by Demerara Distillers on 28 June 2018, and control is carried out by the Guyana National Bureau of Standards.

Why this matters to you. The age on a Demerara Rum label is tied to legal names: “Old” means at least 2 years, “Special Reserve” 12. “Cask Aged” rum and older is bottled in Guyana, and blending with rum from elsewhere is prohibited. The WHO says there is no safe dose of alcohol.