The Colours of Rum Guyana 1999. It’s likely you will become quite familiar with this new independent bottler from Poland over the coming weeks. I have no fewer than 15 expressions (12 of which are from Barbados’ Foursquare Distillery) of their line up to review. Lucky me indeed!

As is, in the name The Colours of Rum Guyana 1999 comes housed in a green and yellow carboard sleeve. Contained within is an opaque “Velier style” bottle with a chunky cork stopper. The label is green with a yellow typeface being used. The traditional colours of the Guyanese flag are red, green and yellow. It seems that Weath Solutions (the group behind The Colours of Rum) have opted for only two colours per release.

The Colours of Rum Guyana 1999 is a rum from the Port Mourant Double Wooden Pot Still or possibly the Single Wooden Versailles Pot Still. Both were had been re-housed at Uitvlugt Dstillery in October 1999, when this rum was distilled. The rum has been aged for 2 years in the tropics and has spent the past 19 and a half years ageing in Europe. The rum was bottled in April 2021. As it’s 21 and a half years old if I’ve got my maths correct.

It is noted as being Cask Number 54 – which in fairness doesn’t mean a great deal to me. It has been bottled at 52.6% ABV and has been aged in “ex-recycled rum casks”. As with the Jamaica release I do think these are once again ex-bourbon barrels. This time though it seems they aren’t second fill if they have previously contained other rums.

The Colours of Rum Guyana 1999 retailed at €218 for a 70cl bottle. It is the most limited single cask release, so far from The Colours of Rum with only 184 bottles being available. I suspect as is the way lately that a few of these might come up for auction online. They likely have already.

In terms of the still that I think this hails from I do suspect it will be from the Port Mourant still. As this is the still that is most often referred to as “Uitvlugt” rather then the Versailles. It is also worth noting that numerous 1999 releases noted as being Uitvlugt have also noted they are from the Port Mourant still. I’m more than happy to be corrected though if my assumption is not correct.

So I think I’ve exhausted my information on this bottling so lets get some nosing and tasting going.

In the glass The Colours of Rum Guyana 1999 is quite a light rum for its age. Likely down to the less intense continental ageing, which made up the majority of this rums maturation. It is light golden brown a shade or two darker than straw. Still quite light though.

The nose is quite fruity and floral with a lot of green apple, pear and that unmistakable Demerara raisin note. There is a little light smoke and the anise that I was expecting on the nose is struggling to make its self felt. Could this be a Versailles still rum after all?

Sipped, its much drier and smokier than the nose leads you to believe. It has a musty almost soot like note. It tastes old if that makes much sense. It’s smoky notes are quite nice and are layered over the raisin and apple notes. There is a slightly tarry note as you move into the mid palate.

There’s a nice hit of aniseed especially on the initial sips and that moves down into the mid palate. It’s quite a savoury/whisky-esque rum but it does have enough sweetness to stop it going to far down that route (I’m not much of a Scotch Whisky fan).

The Colours of Rum Guyana 1999, has a reasonable finish to it but it isn’t as long or as powerful as I might have hoped. This lacks for me the intensity afforded to more time in the tropics. It dries out and dies down quite quickly and is surprisingly “weak” in terms of the overall burn. It drinks more like something at 43-46% ABV. Which I’m not really sure is a bad or a good thing!

Overall, this isn’t a bad rum it’s just not 100% my type of Demerara. I prefer those aged more in the Tropics that have more intensity and richness. This is a bit dry for my tastes but that is exactly that – my tastes.

If you are familiar with rums of a similar vintage and similar ageing profile (tropical/continental ratio especially) then you will likely be able to gauge how this rum tastes and whether its for you or not.

It seems 184 people have already done just that……