The Diamond estate was founded in 1670 on the banks of the Demerara River. The distillery, Guyana’‘s last, is now owned by Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL), a business created by the government when it nationalized the country’‘s distilleries in 1974. These distilleries closed one after the other and Diamond recovered their famous wooden stills, with a double still from Port Mourant, a four-column Savalle still from Uitvlugt, a single still from Versailles and a Coffey still from Enmore. Diamond itself is produced in a two-column metal Coffey still installed in the 1950s. After selling to brokers, merchants and blenders for many years, DDL finally launched its own brand, El Dorado, in 1992, featuring bottlings that blend or highlight the rums produced by the distillery’‘s different stills.

A Hampden 7 year old bourbon cask distilled in 2010 and bottled at cask strength in 2017 for Velier’’s 70th anniversary. Distilled in a double-retort Forsyths still depicted on the label, it is marked , meaning it has an ester content of 900-1,000 g/hlpa. It is blended from five casks and bears a label designed by the Singapore artist Warren Khong. Velier was founded in Genoa by Casimir Chaix in 1947. It was originally a small, family-run business specializing in the import and distribution of wine and spirits. Luca Gargano, a former representative for Saint James and serious rum collector and enthusiast, bought the business in 1986 and began bottling whisky first in 1992 and then rum in 1996. Rums selected by Velier are only ever aged in a tropical climate, which explains both their concentration and the high angels’’ share. They are generally bottled at cask strength or just below. The company’’s selections from Diamond’’s vaults as well as the Caroni bottlings and the bottlings from various distilleries in Jamaica, Barbados and other countries have played a key role in rum’’s history and are today some of the most sought-after in the category.