Guyana is the only rum producing country in this website that is not a Caribbean island. It is situated in South America’s north coast bordering Venezuela to its west and Suriname (Dutch Guyana before. 1975) to its east. Although Guyana’s coast is on the Atlantic Ocean and not on the Caribbean, as a country, Guyana is a member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and is the only English speaking South American country.

The Dutch were the first Europeans to establish permanent settlements in the region in the early 17th Century. Eager to attract more settlers, in 1746 the Dutch authorities opened the area near the Demerara River to British 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 Demerara. Relationship between the British newcomers and Dutch West India Company. 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 Berbice, Essequibo, and Demerara but some months later, France allied with the Netherlands, seized control of the colonies. The French governed for two years, during which they constructed a new town, Longchamps, at the mouth of the Demerara River. When the Dutch regained power in 1784, they moved their colonial capital to Longchamps, which they 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 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. 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 the name was changed to Guyana.

Following its independence, in 1976 Guyana’s government created the Guyana Sugar Corp. to acquire controlling interest in the country’s sugar and rum industries, the latter which included three distilleries: Diamond distillery (Diamond Liquors Ltd owned by Jessels Holdings), Uitviugt distillery (Guyana Distillers Ltd owned by Booker Bros, McConnell) and Enmore distillery (Demerara Distilleries Ltd owned by Guyana Distillers Ltd). In 1983, still under Guyana Sugar Corp. control, Diamond Liquors Ltd and Guyana Distillers Ltd. merged to form Demerara Distillers Ltd and came under the same management structure. However, under government control and management, performance of Demerara Distillers Ltd was not successful and found itself in financial difficulties. Beginning in 1988, the government began divesting of its ownership in Demerara Distillers Ltd and by the early 1990s it became a publicly traded company. In the early 1990s, Demerara Distillers Ltd 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.

Demerara Distillers Ltd

It is today the only distillery operating in the country and 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 maker and to brokers like E&A Scheer. Since 2006 it also owns 33% of National Rums of Jamaica 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 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.