As always a great evening with @the_rum_cartel tasting the legendary 1981 Diamond Demerara rum from Velier at Kafe Utu!

The Diamond 1981 is one of the highlights of Velier’s “Age of Demeraras”, distilled in 1981 at the Diamond distillery using the Diamond Coffey still, with the marque S<W>. It was then aged for a whopping 31 years in the tropics, resulting in 94% of the liquid lost to the angels. The original 37 barrels were vatted together over time, eventually resulting in only 3 barrels that were bottled in 2012 with an outturn of 810 bottles at an abv of 60.1%.

(Image Source: @weixiang_liu)

On the nose were lots of caramel and vanilla. I could also pick out a layer of heavy rancio notes lurking below, earthiness and mushrooms, and a whiff of glue.

Palate-wise the Diamond 81 was relatively straightforward and easy drinking, despite the 60.1% abv. Coffee, molasses, toasted bananas, and a bit of that varnish. The finish was quite elegant too, milk chocolates, a bit drying, peanuts, and some orange peel.

The Diamond 1981 to me is a great rum, but somewhat falls a bit short in the complexity department. Nonetheless it is one of the iconic Demerara rums that everyone should try - A fully tropically aged Demerara from the 80s and distilled using Diamond Coffey still remains unheard of, and this bottle will most certainly give one a glimpse into the provenance of Demeraras of old!

Your occasional rum addict!

@weixiang_liu