Transcontinental Rum Line Australia 2015

Transcontinental Rum Line Australia 2015 is a pure single pot still rum distilled at Beenleigh in Queensland.

Australia's oldest operating distillery, Beenleigh, still works in small batches. Its copper vat still is a shape found nowhere else in the country, and the whole distillation is handled by four people, the master distiller among them. Fermented molasses goes through the pot still, and the spirit then rests in old wooden vats that previously held Australian brandy, before moving into an assortment of used American oak casks. Two years of that happened in Queensland; the rum then crossed the oceans for two more years in Europe. Bottled at natural colour with no sugar added.

Full-bodied and exotic, with molasses depth, dried fruit and a dry, woody finish from the seasoned casks. Drink it neat at room temperature in a tulip glass, with a few drops of water if the heat bites. It stands up in an old fashioned, where the brandy-cask influence reads well against bitters.