Food & Drinking Culture

At Christmas, many households in Guyana have a pot of Pepperpot simmering on the stove. This stew of beef, pork or mutton is considered the national dish and is seasoned with cinnamon and cassareep. Cassareep is a reduced juice from the cassava root, dark, slightly bitter and sweetly spiced, and it gives the meat both its color and a long shelf life. A mature Demerara with caramel, cinnamon and smoke pairs well with this mix of sweetness and spice.

Cook-up rice is more of an everyday dish. Rice is cooked in a single pot with beans or peas, a bit of meat, herbs and spices. The dish is considered a legacy of Afro-Guyanese cuisine and tastes rich but not spicy-hot. A glass of water suits it well, though a light white Demerara also works in a mixed drink with lime.

Black Cake is a dark fruitcake whose dried fruits soak in rum or wine for months before baking. It's a festive cake, cut especially at Christmas. The rum in it is part of the recipe, not a garnish: it keeps the cake moist and gives it the flavor of molasses and spice that's also found in a glass of older Demerara.

Indo-Guyanese cuisine brings curry and roti to the table, served with potatoes, chickpeas and meat. The heat of the curries calls for the sweetness and spice that a mature rum provides.

Celebrations come with music and parades: Mashramani, the festival around Republic Day in late February, fills the streets of Georgetown with music, costumes and parades. Rum shops, the country's small bars, are places for a chat among neighbors; there, rum is shared rather than celebrated.