Overview
Brand: La Maison & Velier, Flag series
Origin: Diamond Distillery, Diamond, Guyana
Still: Pot
Age: 24 years
Finish: ex-Bourbon & ex-Port
ABV: 60.3%
According to Hallmark, the traditional type of gift to give on one's 5th anniversary is "wood". In the case of La Maison & Velier's (LM&V) 5th Anniversary, they decided to give the gift of rum! The partnership of La Maison du Whisky in Paris and Velier in Italy has proven a fruitful one, with us rum enthusiasts being the beneficiaries. The Flag Series was created to celebrate the anniversary of this partnership, and to celebrate the fine cask strength, additive-free rums we often get in LM&V releases.
The name of the project references the bottles' minimalistic labels, which feature deconstructed, artistic renditions of flags of the country where the particular rum was produced. The labels also feature transparent information about distillation type, aging locations, and other interesting details.
Flag Series Guyana 1998 is a 24 year old rum, originally distilled via the famous Port Mourant wooden pot still at Demerara Distillers, Ltd. (DDL) in 1998. The rum spent 2 years of tropical aging in an ex-Bourbon cask in Guyana, before spending a mind-blowing 22 years in an ex-Port cask in Europe. Finally, it was bottled at 60.3% ABV, yielding 685 total bottles.
Mike Hooker of the Austin Rum Society provided this sample to me; thanks Mike! In Memphis, this is available from 901 Wine & Spirits.
Appearance
Orange brown, medium clarity, medium viscosity
Nose
Sour red grapes, black cherries, dates, cookie dough, molasses, refrigerated lettuce, underripe blueberries
Palate
Strawberry syrup, underripe blueberries, sour red grapes, cinnamon, brown sugar, cold iceberg lettuce
Finish
Medium-long, slightly bitter, fruity; mixed red berries (cranberries, raspberries), vanilla, dates, cinnamon, oak
Rating: 9/10
Summary
Wow, what an incredible rum! Guyana 1998 brings the dark molasses expected from a Demerara rum, shares red fruit and slightly bitter notes from the Port cask used, but is not overwhelmed by the lengthy aging. The specific Port Mourant notes can be detected, but seem fairly mellowed by the cask.
The nose gives off a ton of fruit notes like sour grapes, black cherries, and dates, introducing the Port cask right away; the "fridge lettuce" PM note comes in later, as does underripe blueberries that track with a PM still rum. The palate and finish share similar journeys: opening up with sweet fruits, leading into savory molasses and spices, and finishing with some slightly vegetal PM flavors.
Based on many reviewers' thoughts, I wasn't sure if I was going to like the Guyana expression of the Flag Series, but turns out I was wrong. This is an immensely enjoyable dram, and does not shy away showing off its complexity. I think the proof and marque are perfect for this treatment, as I'm not sure we'd get as much of the complexity if the ABV drifted much farther below 60%, and the Port Mourant character likely tamed the decades of Port cask influence (or vice-versa).
This is an excellent entry in the first edition of the Flag Series.