We’re an Australian farm-style rum producer. We run a water bottling business and own a 100 acre farm which has an aquifer underneath it.
We’re adjacent to Bowling Green National Park in North Queensland. In 2020, we took a close look at our mineral water business and our options, and set up the distillery. We’re located in the heart of the Burdekin, Australia’s premier sugar cane growing region, with a much higher brix than other regions.
So we decided to diversify into rum, and more specifically into the French Caribbean agricultural style – although, of course, you can’t call it that! We reduce all our spirits with our own mineral water.
We launched our first product on the market at the end of 2022. We call our base product Virgin Cane Spirit, because there is a 2-year wood-ageing rule in Australia to be able to use the word rum. Vintage Cane Spirit is the same product aged for 1 year in PX casks, and we also have a molasses-based product, aged for a minimum of 2 years in ex-bourbon casks, which we call Premium Aged Rum.
We have carried out a number of experimental batches, recipe developments in 2020-21 using contract distillers, to achieve our “elegant and refined” flavour profile. We have a specific yeast blend that we use, and we normally try to apply a fairly controlled fermentation.
In terms of the type of distilling apparatus, we now have a new 4,000 litre pot/column Frilli hybrid still. This gives us a lot of control, particularly over reflux. We can do a pot still style, or a single pass through the pot and column with reflux.
Normally, we make a single pass through the pot and the 12-tray column, resulting in a spirit that is around 72% proof. This has proved reproducible and gives an excellent flavour profile. We are at 60%.
Finally, we have a number of limited “Distillers Editions” that we make both in the high alcohol Martinique style (Wild Child, JP Edition and Coral Sea Strength) and also a high alcohol VO rum, aged for 3 years and 4 months. We have won a number of awards, including best in class for our premium rum at the ADI last year. Our markets are Australia, the UK (Whiskyexchange) and hopefully the US later this year.