If you love rum, it’s like that Guyana’s El Dorado rum has a prominent place in your cabinet.

This robust, renowned marque has long produced some of the Caribbean’s best, most flavorful rums, owning up to Guyana’s proud rum (and sugar) making heritage.

But El Dorado has shaken things up with its latest collection: the Connoisseur Range.

You see, Demerara Distillers, which produces El Dorado, has the privilege of owning three original stills from the centuries-old Demerara Estates in Guyana.

Each of the Connoisseur releases is a different single-barrel edition, distilled and aged in small batches, each connected to the production techniques and recipes connected with the venerable old estates.

In this case, it’s that of ICBU, linked to the 18th-century Uitvlugt Estate on the Demerara River, unique for its four-column French Savalle Still. The rum is then aged 12 years in American bourbon barrels.

The ICBU has a pure amber color, with an aroma of sugar cane, caramel and dried apricot.

It is a beautifully light rum, with a floral flavor profile marked by notes of sugar cane juice, almond, mocha and a hint of spice.

It’s remarkable in that despite its deep-rooted Demerara origin, it actually reminds of a top-class Bajan rum.

This is an exquisite work of rummaking, rarefied and delicate, perfectly executed.

— Alexander Britell