Guyana is the only rum-producing country in this website that is not a Caribbean island. However, although it is in South America, Guyana is a member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and is the only English speaking country in South America. The Dutch were the first Europeans to establish permanent settlements in 1616 and 1627 in what were then the colonies of Essequibo and Berbice respectively and the colony of Demerara in 1745. Eager to attract more settlers, in 1746 the Dutch authorities opened the area near the Demerara River to English immigrants from the British colonies where plantation owners had been plagued by poor soil and erosion and many were lured to the Dutch colonies by richer soils and the promise of landownership. The influx of British citizens was so great that by 1760 the English constituted a majority of the population of the Demerara colony.

Relationship between the British newcomers and Dutch West India Company was initially cooperative and economically successful but this peaceful coexistence shifted as the large British majority took de facto control of the colony's affairs before eventual British annexation. Reforms during the early 1770s increased the cost of government so the company raised taxes to cover the additional expenses, provoking resistance by the planters. In 1781 a war broke out between the Netherlands and Britain, which resulted in the British occupation of the three colonies but some months later France allied with the Netherlands and seized control of the colonies. The French governed for two years, during which time they constructed the new town of Longchamps at the mouth of the Demerara River. When the Dutch regained power in 1784, they moved their colonial capital to Longchamps and renamed Stabroeck. The capital eventually would become known as Georgetown.

The return of Dutch reignited the conflict between the planters of Essequibo and Demerara and the Dutch West India Company. The colonists petitioned the Dutch government to consider their grievances which resulted in a report called the Concept Plan of Redress which became the colony's first governing document and called for constitutional reforms that became the basis of the British governmental structure. The Dutch West India Company's administration and charter expired in 1792 and the Concept Plan of Redress was put into effect in Demerara and Essequibo. Renamed the United Colony of Demerara and Essequibo, the area then came under the direct control of the Dutch government while Berbice maintained its status as a separate colony.

Then as a result of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, in 1795 the French occupied the Netherlands, the British declared war on France and in 1796 launched an expeditionary force from Barbados to occupy the Dutch colonies. The British takeover was bloodless and local Dutch administration of the colony was left relatively uninterrupted under the constitution provided by the Concept Plan of Redress. Both Berbice and the United Colony of Demerara and Essequibo were under British control from 1796 to 1802 when the Treaty of Amiens returned both to the Dutch. Peace was short lived however, war between Britain and France resumed in less than a year and the United Colony and Berbice were seized once more by British troops. At the London Convention of 1814, both colonies were formally ceded to Britain and in 1831, Berbice and the United Colony of Demerara and Essequibo were unified as British Guiana. The colony would remain under British control until independence in 1966 when its name was changed to Guyana.

Demerara Distillers ltd

After years of consolidation since the late 18th Century when there were over three hundred distilleries in British Guiana as it was then known, in 1942 there were nine operating distilleries. At the time, the rum industry was controlled by Booker Brothers, McConnell & Co. who in 1949 purchased United Rum Merchants, the parent company of Black Heart, Lamb's Navy Rum, Lemon Hart and Red Heart rums. By 1966, when the country gained its independence and changed its name to Guyana, there were only four distilleries in operation all of which produced rum in bulk for export; Enmore, Uitvlugt and Versailles distilleries owned by Booker Brothers, McConnel & Co. and Diamond distillery owned by Diamond Liquors Ltd in turn owned by the Demerara Sandbach Group who in 1971 had been taken over by Jessel Securities. Jessel Security was a British company founded in 1956 by Oliver Jessel that had subsidiary interests in a number of different industries across the world, including Guyanese sugar.

Following independence, in 1975 the two British owned companies that controlled the rum industry in Guyana, Booker Brothers, McConnell & Co. and Demerara Sandbach Group, were nationalized and transitioned to Guyanese ownership, Booker Brothers, McConnel & Co. becoming Guyana Distilleries Ltd (GDL) and the Demerara Sandbach Group Diamond Liquors Ltd (DLL) retaining its name. At the time, the companies began to bottle products for the local market. In 1977 the GDL shut down the Versailles distillery and moved its pot still to Enmore. Yesu Persaud became the executive chairman at DLL and in 1983 led the initiative to combine GDL and DLL and the three last remaining distilleries, Diamond, Uitvlugt, and Enmore, into a single state-run company named Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL).

However, under government control and management, DDL performance was not successful and found itself in financial difficulties. In 1989 the government under Executive President Desmond Hoyt (1985-1992) launched the Economic Recovery Programme to transition Guyana from a state-controlled socialism to a market-oriented economy. As part of this program, on October 12, 1990 he signed a management contract with Booker Tate granting it operational authority to rescue and run the ailing Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) which Concurrently, he also began a process of divesting and privatizing DDL which became a publicly traded company.

DDL then began to expand its operations to further reduce its dependence on bulk commodity rums. In 1992, DDL launched its flagship El Dorado rum brand internationally, not before having to pay an undisclosed amount to Destilería Serrallés in Puerto Rico, who in 1967 had trademarked the El Dorado brand and owned the brand name for the US market. DDL later rebranded their entry level rums to Diamond Reserve, keeping El Dorado for their more premium offerings. With the closure of Enmore distillery in 1993 and Uitvlugt distillery in December 1999, Diamond distillery became the last distillery operating in the country and since then the only active rum producer in Guyana.

The massive Diamond Distillery houses rare, operational antique stills saved from closed estates and its rum is internationally protected under the "Demerara Rum" European Union Geographical Indication (GI). Demerara Distillers Ltd is today one of Guyana’s largest commercial enterprises, extending beyond rum production. In addition to its flagship line of El Dorado rums, Demerara Distillers Ltd supplies bulk rum directly to other rum makers and to brokers like E&A Scheer. Since 2006 it also owns 33% of National Rums of Jamaica (NRJ) by virtue of its agreement to provide new capital and alleviate NRJ financial needs at the time.

Demerara Distillers Ltd distillery operations are unique in the rum industry as it has and uses more stills than any other distillery in the Caribbean, nine active stills in total. Among them, the most famous one is the Port Mourant double wooden vat still, the only one of its kind in the world, built in 1732 of greenheart wood . They have two other wooden stills, the Enmore Coffey style twin column still built in 1880 and today the only wooden Coffey still in the world, and the Versailles wooden vat still which could be described as a small Port Mourant still built in 1890. All its distillates are from molasses sourced in most part by the three sugar mills owned and operated by the government owned Guyana Sugar Corp. (Albion-Rose Hall in East Berbice, Blairmont on the West Bank of Berbice and Uitvlugt on the West Coast of Demerara) and the rest, when needed, imported mainly from Nicaragua.

Fermentation typically takes twenty four to thirty six hours done in thirteen large tanks, eight of them closed and five open air tanks. Aging is done in two facilities, one consisting of three large warehouses on the distillery premises and the other some thirty kilometers away near the mouth of the Essequibo River at the old Uitvlugt distillery.