Mezan Diamond Distillery Guyana 2007 PX Cask Finish. I’ve not been reviewing a great deal of Independent Bottlings of late. I’m not going to pretend I’m wearing some kind of halo and advocating Distillery Bottlings. Thing is though, with the likes of Foursquare, Worthy Park and Hampden Estate producing so many of their own bottlings over the past few years, I’ve found my buying habits pointing more in that direction.

The sheer quality and the reassurance of 100% Tropically Aged rum is a big selling point for me. Increasingly, I’m just not picking up Independent Bottlings the way I used to.

So I was quite surprised to find that my wife had decided to buy me a bottle of this Mezan Diamond Distillery Guyana 2007 PX Cask Finish. To be honest she’s really been pulling out some great stuff over the past couple of years. The type of rums I consider buying but opt for something slightly different. Then wish I had bought them a few weeks later, when they sell out!

I cannot remember the last Mezan rum I reviewed. I’ve reviewed 6 so far. 2 actually from Guyana. In terms of my experience with Mezan Rum, it has been mixed. I really enjoyed their Panama expressions and the continuous release the Mezan Jamaica XO. Others bottlings not so keen.

Now, Mezan have never become known as being a fantastic Independent Bottler in the way Velier, or before them Samaroli became famous. Until recently, they tended to bottle at between the 40-46% ABV mark. For many enthusiasts, looking at Independent Bottlings – this is no longer an option. Many want to see the Cask Strength Expression straight from the barrel.

However, by bottling the rums at a more conservative strength it allows for more bottles to be produced. The price of a “standard” strength Mezan bottling (£35-50) has remained  very competitive. They were one of the first IB I tried when I first dipped my toes in the waters of IB’s. Mostly due to the cost to be honest.

If you are after further information on Mezan Rum I interviewed their CEO Neil Mathieson a few years back. Feels like a life time ago now!

Anyway, lets take a look at what we are getting in this bottle. Mezan Diamond Distillery Guyana 2007 PX Cask Finish comes in Mezan’s rounded stubby bottle. This is a Cask Strength offering and is unsweetened, uncoloured and un-chill filtered. So the standards are set and presented prominently on the front label. No fannying about here. This is rum from a Single Cask (though I understand it is a blend of rums – we’ll come to that later). My bottle is from Cask number 1 of 3 and is bottle number 72 of 423.

Now, the exact still is not stated on the bottle. It’s about the only information that isn’t available. However, it is noted on the rear label that this “rum is blended from spirit produced by several of the column stills” at the Diamond Distillery. DDL have a number of column stills (I am not 100% sure how many were operational as of 2007) including the EHP Coffey Still originally housed at the Enmore Sugar Plantation and the French Savalle still which was moved from Uitivlugt.  Both stills can produced a variety of different rum marques which are used in some of the El Dorado rum brand line up.

This rum has been matured in ex-bourbon barrels, aside from the last year where the rum was moved into an PX Sherry cask for the “finish” or secondary maturation. It was distilled in 2007 and bottled in 2019 and is noted as being aged 12 years. It was aged in Europe for 9 of these years. All this information is provided on the bottles rear label. As you can see.

This rum retails at around the £105-110 mark and is bottled at Cask Strength 56% ABV. As well as the stubby Mezan bottle, you also get a wooden cut out display case and a cloth “marble” style bag. Which you can also store the rum in. All in all its a very nicely presented package. You can currently buy this for £104.95 over at Master of Malt.

Well, I think I’ve given all the information I have on this particular bottling and I’m getting a bit thirsty. So lets see how this went down………

In the glass Mezan Diamond Distillery Guyana 2007 PX Cask Finish is a very dark brown almost mahogany in colour.

Nosing – Mezan Diamond Distillery Guyana 2007 P.X. Cask Finish is very rich and fruity. Lots and lots of raisins, sultanas, figs and some dark berries – blackberries and blueberries. Amongst all this fruitiness, is a wonderful overlay of toffee, caramel and a touch of molasses.

Beneath this, is a warming note of oak and some light vanilla ice cream. A touch of single cream and a slight peanut brittle type note. I’m getting shortbread and baking spices as well. It’s remarkably complex. It’s really lovely on the nose.

When sipped it is as expected from the nosing but the ABV gives this an extra ooomph. This really adds even further depth to the rum.

The initial sip is quite sweet with notes of sweet sherry, toffee, raisin and plum. This isn’t the full story though. Further sips reveal notes of tobacco, oak and some heat – a touch of green chilli/wasabi. The mid palate moves into a mix of tobacco, vanilla and sweet Rum and Raisin ice cream. With some toffee sauce maybe…….

As the rum moves onto the finish, you notice a shift and the sweeter notes are replaced by some tannic red wine and liquorice notes. The finish is very long and warming with a lovely array of oak spices, vanilla, dark chocolate and a smoky tobacco note.

There is so much going on with this rum, it’s difficult to describe everything that you will encounter. This drinks more like a Tropically Aged Demerara than a lot of other IB’s, I have had recently. This is a rich, fruity rum which shows just how rum really doesn’t need to be artificially sweetened. A secondary maturation or finish in a quality cask will give you all the sweetness you need.

It may be, that some of the notes I have written might give people and impression of overbearing sweetness. This is a similar profile to the likes of Foursquares Exceptional Cask Series. Sweet but not sweetened.

I’m pleased I’ve used the Exceptional word because this rum is certainly be-fitting that tag.

Stunning stuff. Highly recommended.