I`m on a demerara rum journey.

One of my aims in this life is to try as many demerara rums i can find, but so far i haven`t been able to try that many. Not all from the El Dorado range are yet tasted for instance, and on my list is also Nation demerara 12 and 31. But the Lemon Hart 151 i`ve had of course, and Banks XM 10 and 12 year old Millenium, they are all wonderful, especially the XM 10 which has an extra caramel yumminess to it. I`m really happy the XM rums are now going to be sold in the US.

El Dorado rums has its own blog post here.

But there are also many other very interesting demerara rums, most often private labels, and often shipped to Scotland for aging. These demeraras are in the higher price range and depending on where you live, they can be hard to find. I buy many of mine from Robertos R2Mshop and they ship worldwide. It was my friend Paul from the IPBartenders in London who first told me about these wonderful rums.

At that time the Silver Seal brand ( an Italian company better known for their frequently stunning (and highly collectable) whisky bottlings.) was only as far as i could see, available from pedrelli in Italy who do not ship internationally. Then of course, a few were available in London, but the brittish pound versus the swedish crown is always very expensive.Silver Seal also carries Jamaican rums from Long Pond distillery.

To quote Paul from a post at the Refined Vices forum:

“Silver Seal Pure Demerara Rum 1992 and Silver Seal Pure Demerara Rum 1991.
These are top quality rums absolutely perfect for Mai Tais (as I’m sure Tiare will testify). Fantastic examples of Demerara rums bought straight from DDL in Guyana where they are aged and bottled in Scotland by the Silver Seal Company (which is actually based in Italy).”

Silver Seal – 92 bottle.

So it was not until Roberto added Silver Seal to his R2Mshop that i could lay my hands on a Silver Seal bottle which really are beautifully shaped bottles with stunning labels. I bought the 15 year old Silver Seal -92 demerara (110 proof) and the first thing i did after tasting it neat was to make a Mai Tai. And then i too was blown away..and made Mai Tais during 2 weeks until the pricey bottle was finished.Really, this rum is a sipping rum but who can resist making perfect Mai Tais?

It must be something special with this rum, well, it is as the Mai Tais really becomes very very tasty.

Now i`m a lucky owner to a new bottle of that wonderful rum plus 2 others that i hadn`t tried before. Uitvlugt 1990 full proof (132 proof) and Port Royal (92 proof, selected and bottled for Sarzi Amadé , Milano, Italy). These are all heavy and strong demeraras.

I didn´t think about how strong the Uitvlugt was until i took a good sip and was punched back right in the face. These 3 rums are very flavorful, strong and tasty and i want to try a lot more of these types. I have read quite a bit about these privately bottled demeraras and i know there`s much more to discover.

The rums from Enmore which are stamped EHP on the barrels are distilled from the only wooden continuous still operating in the world and produces extremely powerful distilling, probably the best of Demerara rums. Rums from these,  distilled in a continuos still, like the Bonne Intention, (LBI), produces a aromatic smooth rum, while Versailles, (VSG), are distilled in the only single pot still still in function. More on the stills with pics and etc is in my El Dorado post.

To start with from the first 3 rums i got, Port Royal which comes in a very nice bottle, its a bit sweeter and a bit lighter than the other two, but it does have a heavy demerara flavor and is quite woody, and has a strong kick. The taste stays long with you as well.Its not in the same class as the Silver Seal rums, but its perfectly both sippable and mixable.Its aged for 14 years.

This selection comes from a 1991 alembic distillation (distilled using a copper still) and is aged in small barrels until the bottling in sept 2004. Only 370 bottles were made. The nose and the flavor is that of a deep demerara and its a heavy rum but not as fully and complete tasting as Silver Seal-92 (or El Dorado 15).

The next to taste, the Silver Seal 15 year from Diamond distillery also has this deep demarara flavor, deeper and rounder and fuller than Port Royal and it packs a punch as well. Its the only demerara rum from the Silver Seal range i`ve yet tasted. Unfortunately the 28 year old (120 proof and said to have extremely aromatic, round flavor, is most likely no longer available.

The four sides of the Silver Seal box showing the wildlife series.

But there`s a few others (Enmore 1975 – 32 yo, 136 proof – 60 bottles made, (i`ve heard its a bit overaged and tastes too strong of wood. What turns me off is the exceptionally high price of this one) Enmore 1996, Enmore 1988, and from brittish Guyana, 20 year old, 92 proof) Some of these i hope to try as well.

This – 92 Silver Seal is excellent to sip and wonderful to mix, what more can i say?

And so the third, Uitvlugt full proof, old demerara rum (132 proof) from DDL (demerara distillers) 4 barrels distilled in double pot still in december 1990 and aged 17 years in various warehouses on the british isles. Bottled in march 2008, 881 bottles were produced. Its this one that kicked me unawares. It has a deep woody demerara flavor and packs a real punch.

Good to sip, float and mix with. The nose is amazing, strong, with a slight medical hint to it due to the strong proof.

Demerara Uitvlugt is the name of the famous distillery of Dutch origin situated west of the river, on the Atlantic coast in Guyana. Using the famous Port Morant still, the last vat still in the demerara area distilling fullbodied and intense rums.

I´m not a rum reviewer and dont know so good how to put flavors in words so this is as good as i can describe these rums, rums with great body and intesity. Totally demerara rum heaven, i`m now while writing this amusing myself by looking at the many legs* on my glass.

* When leaning the glass on the side and then back up again, the rum forms legs on the side of the glass. Light-bodied rums will have thin “legs” that move quickly, while medium and full-bodied rums will have thick “legs” moving slowly, one of the ways you can evaluate the body of a rum.

In part two (to be posted in about 4 days) i`m going to write about Banks XM, O.V.D – Old Vatted and Samaroli Port Morant 1990.

Any rum that is refered to as Demerara rum must be distilled in Guyana in the county of Demerara.

DEMERARA BOMB WHITE ZOMBIE

This recipe is based on Robert Burr`s (Gifted rums guide) White zombie. The original recipe is:

Rob’s White Zombie

4 oz Cruzan Rum Cream
1.5 oz Cruzan Black Strap
1.5 oz Voodoo Spiced Rum
1.5 oz Redrum
1.5 oz Bruddah Kimio’s Da Bomb 155 Overproof (em-bombing fluid)

Fill a big shaker with ice, add rums, and shake ’til yer hand damn-near freezes. Pour into a tall glass, add a straw and a garnish of small pineapple wedge. Find a good place to relax.

10 ounces of rum that tastes like a milkshake, named for the famous movie starring Bela Lugosi — White Zombie — the first zombie movie ever made.

The White Zombie rum cocktail was developed and tested by Rob V. Burr, the Cane Spirit Guide.

I would really like to try the white zombie but don`t have access to those rums so i made my own version with my dem rums which is this:

DEMERARA BOMB WHITE ZOMBIE

3 oz El Dorado Rum Cream
1 oz Amarula Cream
1oz Port Royal demerara (92 proof)
1oz Banks XM demerara
1oz Silver Seal 15 year demerara (110 proof)
0.5 oz Uitvlugt fullproof demerara (132 proof)

And a dollop of Fernet Branca ( about 1/2 barspoon)

Shake and strain..pour into a yummy glass and throw in a fragrant mexican cinnamon stick.

You may sub the demeraras in the recipe with 1 oz El Dorado 12, 1 oz El Dorado 15 and 1 oz Lemon Hart 151.

From this version of the White Zombie i made a drink for the TDN which was themed float, (every cocktail had to have a float) which i called “Demerara Bomb #2″ and it happened to win that TDN. So to not forget from where the inspiration to that cocktail came from, it was all originated in the White Zombie by Rob V. Burr..named for the first zombie movie ever made — White Zombie

DEMERARA DELIGHT

1 oz demerara rum
1 oz aged rhum agricole
Chunks of fresh pineapple
Cane cola to top
1 oz Honey-cream-mix
Float overproof demerara rum
Crushed ice
Pineapple garnish
Muddle 5-6 chunks of fresh pineapple with 0.5 lime juice and 0.5 vanilla syrup
Add 1 oz aged agricole, 1 oz demerara rum (I used St James 12 and Port Royal)
Add 1 oz honey-cream-mix (1:1:1 honey-butter-sugar-above roomtemp)
Fill glass with crushed ice

Shake very hard and fast with ice and strain.
Top with a little cane cola and float some overproof dark demerara rum
Fill up with more crushed ice if needed.
Garnish pineapple.( I used a baby pineapple).

THE HONEY CREAM MIX:

The unfamous honey-cream -mix, with its problem of butter solids separation, there are different ways to try to solve it, i do like this:

Warm the honey, sugar, butter to very warm, then let it cool a little but stay above room temp and dry shake first (without ice) and then add ice and shake real hard and fast and hope for the best. And dont look;-)