This new Demerara rum expression from El Dorado follows a previous “high ester” release a couple years ago that paired Diamond Distillery’s intense Diamond High Ester (DHE) marque with a rare LBI marque. This time they’re pairing DHE with what is probably Diamond’s most famous still, the legendary Port Mourant wooden pot still initially put into service in 1732 (yes, almost 300 years). PM is one of my favorite stills as it produces oily, heavy, and pungent rum that in the best of ways tastes like old leather shoes filled with tobacco. The new expression is aged for 10 years in second fill Bourbon barrels and retails for around $140 for a 750 ml bottle.
Combining PM with the flavorful DHE marque would appear to be a good match so I did some comparisons between the two “high ester” bottles as well as a cask strength single still Port Mourant expression. All of these feature more than ten years of tropical aging, pot still distillation, and a higher ABV, though notably the new PM/DHE is only 51.7% and thus about 5% less potent than the other two.
Tasting these neat, they’re all great and any rum lover would likely enjoy any of them as is. But in comparison I definitely preferred the single still Port Mourant and I also liked the combination of the original LBI/DHE a bit more than the new one.
As we’re want to do, we also tried the PM/DHE in a Mai Tai and this is where a rum like this really shines. It is such a complex set of flavors to savor in the cocktail format, and it really holds up to the dilution to provide a wonderful “rummy” taste that suits the use.
We think that El Dorado is a doing a great job with these expressions geared for rum lovers and collectors, and I feel that the pricing is fair given the rarity of the DHE marque and the high quality of the product. Though I still prefer my PM straight, it’s also lovely when combined with other marques from Diamond’s vast collection of stills.
