El Dorado Single Still Port Versailles 12 Year Rum starts with the story of Demerara Distillers, which began in 1670 when every sugar estate had its own rum still, and a group of sugar cane producers formed an exporting co-operative. This early production of rum for sailors was the beginning of the company today.
From over 300 sugar estates to one company! In the 17th and 18th centuries, there were in excess of 200 small distilleries operating in Guyana, each attached to the existing sugar plantations, each with its own special blend of rum. However, following the years of consolidation and amalgamation, there remains today just the one unrivaled distillery at Plantation Diamond on the East Bank of Demerara – wholly owned and operated by Demerara Distillers Limited.
Demerara Distillers Limited is in a unique position in the world of rum, continuing to operate the original production stills used on three of the great Sugar Estates of the 18th and 19th centuries. These include the Double Wooden Pot (Port Mourant), the Single Wooden Pot Still (Versailles), the EHP Wooden Coffey Still (Enmore), and the French Saville Still (Uitvlugt).
Demerara Distillers Limited benefits from being able to operate the last two original Wooden Pot Stills in the world. Over 250 years old and originally used to produce the Demerara Navy Rums, they are nowadays often referred to by their old names – Demerara VAT Stills. The Double Wooden Pot Still originated from the Port Mourant Estate, founded in 1732, and was later moved first to Uitvlugt and then in 2000, to Diamond. In the same way the original Single Wooden Pot Still was moved from its original home at Versailles on the West Bank of the Demerara River, via Enmore and Uitvlugt to its present home at Diamond.
These two unique copper-necked stills are valued by blenders and other experts as a source of very medium bodied, very flavourful and deeply aromatic rums – the ancient greenheart wood of the still playing a major role in the development of these distinctive characteristics. While rum from this still is used in the blending of other El Dorado rums, the El Dorado Single Still Port Mourant Rum is a single distillate from the Double Wooden Pot Still.
The Wooden Continuous Coffey or EHP Wooden Still is the last fully working example of its kind in the world today. It is similar, if not identical, to the very first continuous still constructed and patented by an Irish excise officer Aeneas Coffey in 1832, after whom the still was named. This still is the original and last surviving one from the Enmore Sugar Estate founded nearly 200 years ago by Edward Henry Porter. Since 1880 it has been producing a medium bodied rum with a mild, fruity aroma, and its unique flavour is attributed to the wooden structure of this tall still, described by the rum writer, Dave Broom, as ‘looking like a giant filing cabinet’.
With its various stills, no other rum distillery in the world offers such a variety and range of different styles of rum, including the El Dorado Single Still Port Versailles 12 Year Rum.
