The Diamond Distillery sits on the East Bank of the Demerara River near Georgetown, Guyana. The Distillery, originally attached to the now closed Diamond Sugar Estate, is home to Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL). Although the Diamond Distillery is the last surviving rum distillery in Guyana, the history of rum production in this South American country stretches back as far as the mid-seventeenth century. According to the DDL website, it all began in about 1650 when the British introduced the art of distilling to the sugar plantations in Guyana. Within 25 years, almost every sugar plantation had a small Rum Still attached to it, and the history of Demerara Rum had begun. By the eighteenth century, over 200 separate sugar plantations (or Estates) were involved in rum production.