Region & History

A map of Guyana traces the rum with striking precision. Between the Boeraserie River in the west and Abary Creek in the east lies the flat coastal plain of the Demerara region, and only what's made there may call itself Demerara Rum. The Demerara River runs right through the middle of it, with Georgetown sitting at its mouth.

Sugarcane arrived on this coast with European colonists. Under Dutch and later British rule, plantations sprang up where enslaved people grew and processed the cane; rum was distilled from the leftovers of sugar production. How these sugar estates operated and who lived on them is told in a separate stop on this journey.

Just how densely the land was once packed with distilleries is shown by a count from the company's history: in 1849 there were said to be 180, by 1908 only 44, and by 1959 just eight remained. When Guyana gained independence in 1966, five were still standing. Operations closed, their equipment was relocated, and the accumulated knowledge was brought together.

In 1983, Guyana Distilleries Limited and Diamond Liquors Limited merged to form Demerara Distillers Limited, known as DDL, headquartered in Georgetown. On the Diamond site, on the eastern bank of the Demerara, stills and expertise from shuttered operations were gathered together. In 1992, the company launched its own brand, El Dorado. When the Uitvlugt distillery closed at the end of 1999, Diamond remained the country's only distillery.

So today there's one distillery, but many rums. The EU lists Demerara Rum as a protected geographical indication from a third country. It defines the region, bans blending with foreign rum, and requires that certain aged qualities be bottled on site. What exactly that means is explained in the stops that follow.