Both Kill Devil and rum from Guyana make regular appearances on these pages.  Up until now, not both in the same article.  Here we have another in the excellent line up of Single Cask rums from Hunter Laing’s rum offshoot.

Kill Devil Guyana is limited to only 276 bottles worldwide.  A 70cl bottle with a 46% ABV will set you back around £60.

The rum was distilled in June 2001 and bottled earlier this year.  It is from the Diamond Distillery.  Unfortunately I could not get any further information regarding this rum.

What I did do was consult a rather brilliant reference on the internet.  None other than the excellent Marco Freyer’s piece “The Demerara Distilleries 2.0“. I would strongly advise to bookmark as it has a lot of information.  I’ll also take the time to recommend Marco’s site BarrelMetal Aged Mind which has a host of rum reviews and articles in both German and English.  Just one thing though make sure you have plenty of time as he makes my reviews look like Whiskyfun’s……….

From consulting Marco’s essay I came to the conclusion that this rum was produced on a Metal Column/Coffey Still (Continuous Metal Still).  I seem to recall reviewing a Velier Diamond which I enjoyed a lot so here’s hoping for this particular bottling.

I’m very pleasantly surprised by the colour of this rum when poured in the glass.  It’s quite dark. Reminiscent of that Velier Diamond.  This is a bit of surprise as I’m not sure how long this rum has spent in the tropics.  We have two options – it has been aged considerably in the tropics or it has been coloured with caramel.

The nose indicates that the colour is possibly down to tropical ageing as its very big.  Much more oomph than say the Mezan Uitvluigt or Bristol’s 1998 Diamond, which were much lighter and less intense on the nose.

The nose is rich, nice hit of treacly molasses and some all too familiar dried fruits and wafts of toffee and chocolate.  It’s full bodied but not overbearing. It reminds me a little of the El Dorado 15 Year Old in that it also has quite an oaky influence hanging over the top giving it a nice balance.

I would say that this rum has spent quite a chunk of its maturation in the tropics.  Not all its 15 years but certainly a decent amount.

At 46% ABV the rum is at a just about ideal (in my opinion) sipping strength so at least for the first sip I won’t be adding any water.

Nor will I be for any subsequent sips as the rum does not need opening up any further.  The flavours you should be seeking in a good well aged Demerara are all present and correct.

Again its all familiar very much like an unsweetened El Dorado Rum.  Chocolate, coffee, a little treacle, big juicy plump raisins, a little fig and a very nice oaky and slightly leathery bite on the finish.

It’s a big, bold rum.  A rum which if I smoked I would certainly pair with a cigar.  It’s not a rum you need to rush or take large sips.  Small sips deliver more than enough concentrated rich flavour.  Each sip lasts a long time.  It has a fantastic length and depth to it.  I get a feeling that Pusser’s Navy Rum would taste a little like this if it were aged for around the same period.  It’s also very similar to the Velier Diamond 1999.  which I have reviewed previously.    Could I give a better compliment? And its only a third of the price of that bottling, granted with a lower ABV.

If people realise what is in this wonderful bottle of Kill Devil rum I suspect you might struggle to find one of the 276 bottles.  I would urge you not to pass up a chance to buy this bottling.  However, a word of caution – be careful when buying the Kill Devil’s as they have a lot of different single cask offerings out so make sure you buy this one and not one of the others by mistake.  (Having said that they are probably all well worth the money anyway)

If you are familiar with Diamond or even Enmore Demerara’s then I wouldn’t hesitate in snapping this up.  Great stuff from a bottler who is really beginning to make a mark in the rum world.