THE
WISDOM
OF
HISTORY
Author: Christine Sismondo
There’s a bit of a dog-and-pony aspect to most
distillery tours. Folksy guides, much ado about the
water source and then, the show-stopper—a shiny,
state-of-the-art copper still.
Which is why, after the
first dozen or so distilleries,
bartenders, who make a
point of getting to as many
as possible, start to crave a
little gritty authenticity. That
is exactly what’s on offer at
Guyana’s El Dorado facility, a
ramshackle rum factory with
working ancient, antique,
wooden stills that are at
the top of almost every
bartender’s ice-bucket list.
If you’ve never heard of
wooden alcohol stills, you’re
forgiven. El Dorado’s are the
oldest working wooden stills
in a distillery and, as far as
anyone knows, the only ones
used to produce alcohol for
large-scale commercial use.
As such, just like the copper
stills on the bourbon trail,
the three monsters churning
out rum—one of which
dates back to 1732—are the
headliners on the humid and
sticky hard-hat tour at El
Dorado. Except that, instead
of shiny metal showpieces,
these Big Berthas are clunky,
scruffy cauldrons of steamy
living history.
“It was great to get
behind the scenes and learn
all about what the company’s
doing to save the region’s
heritage,” says Robin James
Wynne, manager at Toronto’s
Miss Things, who visited El
Dorado in November. “It’s
great to see those old stills
in action and to understand
how it effects the product on
the back end.”
Indeed, this would all
just be gimmickry if this
old technology didn’t
have some effect on the
taste. I believe it does.
When you’re at the facility,
located on the Demerara
River that meanders out of
the northeastern corridor
of the South American
rainforest, you can smell
the ripe tropical fruits and
slightly funky molasses
that dominates the flavour
profile. The wood, like a
good salad bowl, is said to
contain a little residue from
all the previous batches that
have been run through ov er
nearly three centuries, which
helps enhance the flavour.
With copper or stainless
steel, each batch is brand
new, with no traces of what
passed through before.
Unfortunately, not every
bottle contains the rum
made in the 1732 wooden pot
still.
tall wooden Coffey still that
dates back to 1880. The “Port
Mourant,” which refers to
the rum from the old, bubbly,
pot still cauldrons, flies off
the shelves pretty fast but
both make it to Canada quite
regularly.
And if you missed the
special bottlings, many of the
El Dorado rums (at least the
ones aged eight years and
over) contain juice from the
Port Mourant stills.
No dogs or ponies
involved. It’s the genuine
article.
Every bottle
tells a different
story, something
that’s led to
something of a
cult following for
special releases
among rum fans.
Wynne keeps an eye
out for Single Barrel “EHP”,
which all come from the
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