It’s the turn of the creators of the famous Australian Rum & Cane Spirit Advent Calendar!
Can you tell the French public a bit about your background?
Norman and I were born on the beautiful island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. The island’s rum culture greatly influenced our rum journey. We moved to Australia in 2003, where our shared love of the spirit was solidified by getting involved in rum clubs, attending rum festivals and visiting distilleries to further our knowledge across Australia and overseas. Rum has offered many wonderful adventures and has sparked a passion for sharing our knowledge and creating educational platforms to promote the spirit and its culture.
How many distilleries produce rum in Australia? How is the market organised?
According to the Australian Distillers Association, there are over 700 distilleries in operation across Australia. 50% of them are in regional areas and 80% of Australian distillers are small businesses. However, the exact number of distilleries producing rum is not publicly available. There are only a handful of distilleries dedicated exclusively to the production of rum, while others have a mixed portfolio of rum and other spirits.
Is Bundaberg as important as we hear here (70% of the market)? Very little is known about this distillery in France.
The Bundaberg rum distillery began operations on 22 November 1888 and has had a significant impact on the Australian rum market. Owned by Diageo, to date it has focused on increasing its significant position in the local industry. We featured one of Bundaberg’s rums in our 2024 advent calendar.
What are the characteristics of Australian rum?
In Australia, the main rule is that the spirit must be aged in wood for at least two years. Australian rum is quite diverse. We wanted to capture the diversity in each edition of our advent calendar.
Most local rums have been made from molasses, with the majority using stills and ageing their spirits for more than 2 years to meet the legal ageing requirement.
However, in recent years we have seen some changes in the industry, with more and more distilleries producing rum from sugar cane juice. In recent years, we have also seen an increase in unaged spirits and spirits less than 2 years old being marketed.
Due to our ageing regulations, labelling these unaged spirits or spirits less than 2 years old can be difficult, as they cannot be called rum. These products have been labelled as Pure Cane, White Cane, Silver and Coastal Cane, to name but a few.
The variation in raw materials, distillation, fermentation and ageing processes and the location of each distillery are critical factors that contribute to the diversity of Australian rum.
What are the distilleries to look out for in the coming years?
There are many, but if we had to narrow the list down, the following distilleries: Capricorn Distillery, Burdekin Distillery, Killik Distillery, JimmyRum Distillery, Kalki Moon Distillery and Winding Road Distillery.
Tell us about your Advent calendar. How did you choose the vintages?
Norman and I have been buying rum advent calendars for several years. We love the concept, but unfortunately we’ve always had to find them abroad as there weren’t any available locally.
We had hoped that an Australian rum calendar would one day be published but, alas, none had been done to showcase local rums. We recognised the gap in the market and decided to take on the challenge of launching Australia’s first ever advent calendar for rum and cane spirit in 2021.
At that time (2021), the industry was recovering from the impact of covid and confinements. A lot of effort and strategy had gone into supporting local distilleries. The Australian Advent Calendar was an ideal opportunity to showcase the diversity of Australian rum while supporting local distilleries.
Throughout our previous editions, we have tried to provide cane rums/spirits as follows: Cane rums/spirits that are part of the ongoing portfolio of distilleries so that customers can buy full-size bottles with ease.
Limited editions and pre-premieres that have been selected just for our calendar. Over the years, we also try to showcase new distilleries with their first rum/cane spirit.
The calendar is a great way to discover exciting new products, whether you’re an expert or new to the world of rum.
What surprises does the 2025 edition have in store for us?
There are some limited releases coming up from a number of distilleries that we’re delighted to include in our calendar. Some of these releases have been in the pipeline for a few years and we’re looking forward to sharing them with the rum community. Part of the philosophy of our calendar is that we advertise the distilleries that are part of each edition, but the selection of rums is kept secret until each rum is revealed from 1 to 24 December. A real surprise every day until Christmas.
In preparing this dossier, several distilleries told me that they had to deal with cyclones, fires and/or floods… what impact do natural disasters have on Australian rum?
Natural disasters such as cyclones, floods and fires have a direct impact on distilleries. Their raw materials would be directly affected, for example: those making rum from sugarcane juice would be affected if the sugarcane fields were hit by a natural disaster, which would affect their rum production plan and the flow and effect on the business.
Damage to the distillery as a result of a natural disaster also puts additional pressure on the business, for example in the case of damaged equipment.
After a natural disaster, shipping from the affected areas can be difficult, which can also lead to delays in delivering goods to customers or receiving goods from suppliers for rum production. Our advice is to speak to Husk Distillery, who have experienced several floods in the past and can explain how they have affected their business and what measures they have had to take to limit damage from future floods.
We’ve followed their journey since they launched their first product and Paul/Harriet or Quentin can tell us more about their experience of managing the impact of natural disasters.
What about climate change?
As far as climate change is concerned, all distilleries are affected. We suggest asking distilleries to comment on the impact of climate change on their business since they started operating.
Cuvée to taste: Australian rum & cane spirit Advent calendar
This 2024 edition of the Mr & Mrs Rum advent calendar features 24 rums from 22 different Australian distilleries. The best way to get an idea of the diversity of rums on the island-continent.
Australian rum & cane spirit Advent calendar – 24 x 3 cl – €179 from Excellence Rhum