Australia’s rum renaissance has been brewing for some time now, and its latest chapter is being written by Birds of Isle, a new label co-founded by Sally Carter and Chanel Melani in the Northern Rivers. Together, they’ve put out a Bunya Nut Rum that’s a bit of a game-changer – a blend of five Venezuelan rums matured in ex-bourbon casks and finished here on home turf for seven months in ex-muscat French oak barrels from the Barossa. The kicker is a final maceration with local roasted bunya nuts and their charred shells, foraged with the help of Bundjalung chef, Mindy Woods.
The result is something very special – led by flavours of crème brûlée, chestnuts and toffee, with a really satisfying roundness and lightness of touch all the same. Wowee. It’s really something, a wonder to sip neat but just as life-affirming with a splash of tonic or in the place of gin in a Negroni. Their own Australian sugarcane-based rum is currently in barrel, but if this release is any indication of what’s coming, this is a project you need to be across.