Semi interesting article on rum in Australia with some interesting facts about Diageo owned Bundaberg rum and the (IMO) distillery with far more potential 'Beenleigh' as well as some interesting notes on inner circle.
http://m.smh.com.au/executive-style/top ... 27sed.html
Australian distilleries catching up?
Australian distilleries catching up?
in goes your eye out
-
Capn Jimbo
- Rum Evangelisti and Compleat Idiot
- Posts: 3550
- Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2006 3:53 pm
- Location: Paradise: Fort Lauderdale of course...
- Contact:
Thanks and some notes from the article...
1. "Australian producers are also investing in higher quality rum. Inner Circle Rum, recently acquired by the Australian owned and operated Vok Beverages is now being produced at the Beenleigh distillery in Queensland. Until recently the rum brand which started life at the Colonial Sugar Refinery in Pyrmont, Sydney, was produced in Fiji and bottled in New Zealand before being shipped back to Australia for sale."
2. "[Inner Circle] is now produced using locally sourced molasses, which is one of the key ingredients that will affect the flavour profile of rum," explains Kramer. "The old Inner Circle Rum was produced from Fijian molasses, which is less refined... The Australian molasses is more refined due to the production process, which imparts a cleaner flavoured rum."
"Given that Inner Circle Rum now is produced at the Beenleigh distillery we have the flexibility to quickly diversify our production methods and trial multiple aging options. Small batch barrels is something we are exploring with the Master Blender, Wayne Stewart," adds Kramer."
And as for Bundaberg...
3. "The majority of vats at Bundaberg Rum sit at around 55,000 to 70,000 litres, so while the spirits are given a chance to mellow there's very little flavour imparted from the wood. But times are a changing.
Bundaberg have sourced smaller barrels (closer to 200 litres) from all over the globe – bourbon barrels from America, Cognac from France and Sherry from Spain all in a bid to develop a new line of extensively aged limited release Bundaberg rums for serious aficionados. The Master Distillers' Collective rums have been met with critical success at global spirits competitions.
Matt Bruhn, Director of Bundaberg Distilling Co. says: "Only ideas which are genius become rums in the Master Distillers' Collective, and we look forward to seeing what future inventions our exception team of distillers, bondsmen and expert blenders come up with next."
My take:
Now I promised daRum to lay off a certain hairy Canadian faux reviewer, and I shall. But - without naming names - what really bothers me are the posters elsewhere who take every possible opportunity to insult the Bundaberg rep on his own thread - without ever having tasted the rums!
That these pure and unsubstantiated insults are not deleted by the webmaster is a mystery, but tells you all you need to know.
Look. The Aussies - who also do a lot of home distilling - love their Aussie rums. As so well put in daRum's linked article, the Bundaberg rums are iconic and revered, just as Wray & Nephews Overproof is found in every single Jamaican's home, worldwide. I respect that. Which is not to say that we can't or shouldn't critique these rums, but only - only...
If we have tasted them.
1. "Australian producers are also investing in higher quality rum. Inner Circle Rum, recently acquired by the Australian owned and operated Vok Beverages is now being produced at the Beenleigh distillery in Queensland. Until recently the rum brand which started life at the Colonial Sugar Refinery in Pyrmont, Sydney, was produced in Fiji and bottled in New Zealand before being shipped back to Australia for sale."
2. "[Inner Circle] is now produced using locally sourced molasses, which is one of the key ingredients that will affect the flavour profile of rum," explains Kramer. "The old Inner Circle Rum was produced from Fijian molasses, which is less refined... The Australian molasses is more refined due to the production process, which imparts a cleaner flavoured rum."
"Given that Inner Circle Rum now is produced at the Beenleigh distillery we have the flexibility to quickly diversify our production methods and trial multiple aging options. Small batch barrels is something we are exploring with the Master Blender, Wayne Stewart," adds Kramer."
And as for Bundaberg...
3. "The majority of vats at Bundaberg Rum sit at around 55,000 to 70,000 litres, so while the spirits are given a chance to mellow there's very little flavour imparted from the wood. But times are a changing.
Bundaberg have sourced smaller barrels (closer to 200 litres) from all over the globe – bourbon barrels from America, Cognac from France and Sherry from Spain all in a bid to develop a new line of extensively aged limited release Bundaberg rums for serious aficionados. The Master Distillers' Collective rums have been met with critical success at global spirits competitions.
Matt Bruhn, Director of Bundaberg Distilling Co. says: "Only ideas which are genius become rums in the Master Distillers' Collective, and we look forward to seeing what future inventions our exception team of distillers, bondsmen and expert blenders come up with next."
My take:
Now I promised daRum to lay off a certain hairy Canadian faux reviewer, and I shall. But - without naming names - what really bothers me are the posters elsewhere who take every possible opportunity to insult the Bundaberg rep on his own thread - without ever having tasted the rums!
That these pure and unsubstantiated insults are not deleted by the webmaster is a mystery, but tells you all you need to know.
Look. The Aussies - who also do a lot of home distilling - love their Aussie rums. As so well put in daRum's linked article, the Bundaberg rums are iconic and revered, just as Wray & Nephews Overproof is found in every single Jamaican's home, worldwide. I respect that. Which is not to say that we can't or shouldn't critique these rums, but only - only...
If we have tasted them.
Ok, so a couple of points from a differing point of view. I agree with you that if one has not tried a rum then commenting on it either positively or negatively in regard to taste is not helpful to anyone.
I had a look at 'spinner' and 'jolipapa' and the latter is French the former, Australian. So in spinners case I'd bet he's tried Bundaberg rum as that rum is a protected species in Australia. Also I've tried Bundaberg, before and after the Diageo bought the company. In my opinion Bundaberg rum is rubbish it was always bad. It was always made to get people drunk and make money for the distillery without any real apparent love for their product.
The only change since Diageo took over is the marketing and presentation. This 'new' direction is not indicative of a want to improve their craft but instead a push to create a product with the lowest possible effort label it as 'special' and charge the uneducated Australian public a large sum for essentially the rum worlds version of snake oil. This seems a very hard opinion of this company/distillery but I have seen over the years the privileged position this distillery has enjoyed within Australia and have seen how they have used this position to improve profit but not quality, the iconic label they enjoy us purely because they have been protected from competition and Australians in general don't know any better. If any one asked me if it was even worth tasting I'd say an emphatic NO!
I'm glad to read this article because of the other distilleries mentioned within and the fact that perhaps the attitude of 'that'll do' for Australian rum might be changing. Australia gas enormous potential with its climate and masses of sugarcane fields to compete with the very best of the worlds rum producers we just need Australians to stop being so lazy and greedy in their approach.
I had a look at 'spinner' and 'jolipapa' and the latter is French the former, Australian. So in spinners case I'd bet he's tried Bundaberg rum as that rum is a protected species in Australia. Also I've tried Bundaberg, before and after the Diageo bought the company. In my opinion Bundaberg rum is rubbish it was always bad. It was always made to get people drunk and make money for the distillery without any real apparent love for their product.
The only change since Diageo took over is the marketing and presentation. This 'new' direction is not indicative of a want to improve their craft but instead a push to create a product with the lowest possible effort label it as 'special' and charge the uneducated Australian public a large sum for essentially the rum worlds version of snake oil. This seems a very hard opinion of this company/distillery but I have seen over the years the privileged position this distillery has enjoyed within Australia and have seen how they have used this position to improve profit but not quality, the iconic label they enjoy us purely because they have been protected from competition and Australians in general don't know any better. If any one asked me if it was even worth tasting I'd say an emphatic NO!
I'm glad to read this article because of the other distilleries mentioned within and the fact that perhaps the attitude of 'that'll do' for Australian rum might be changing. Australia gas enormous potential with its climate and masses of sugarcane fields to compete with the very best of the worlds rum producers we just need Australians to stop being so lazy and greedy in their approach.
in goes your eye out