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 Diamond 15 year old distilled in 1999 (mark SVW) in the distillery’’s Coffey still and bottled in 2008. 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. It was in 1996 that Gargano bottled his first Demerara rums. In 2004, Gargano was invited to Guyana to select casks by his friend Yesu Persaud, then the CEO of Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL). This partnership ended in 2015 when Persaud retired, but the rums bottled in the meantime became legendary. A limited edition of 1,411 bottles.