Why you need to experience the Bundaberg Rum Distillery

Feature

By Danielle Reckless

The vast, verdant cane fields of the Sunshine State offer more than just spectacular views for your road trip. Up here, sugarcane country delivers something sweet and spirited, that's beckoning to be sipped.

One of Queensland's most famous exports, Bundaberg Rum has become something of an Australian icon, deeply embedded in our cultural DNA since it began in 1888. But it's come a long way since its original iteration.

So far, in fact, that one of Bundaberg Rum’s 10 variants was crowned the ‘World’s Best Rum’ at the 2017 global World Rum Awards. Sure, it may seem unexpected that the world’s best rum calls an unassuming regional Queensland town home, but there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to Bundaberg’s charms.

Home grown takes on a whole new meaning here. That rich, bold flavour isn't manufactured: that's the taste of Bundaberg's rich, volcanic soil in which the canefields grow.

But if you make the pilgrimage – about four hours by car from Brisbane – to experience Bundaberg Rum on its hallowed ground, you’ll quickly discover that the drink itself is only part of the story. Here’s why Bundaberg Rum Distillery deserves a place on your bucket list.

Take a tour

If Bundaberg Rum’s distillery walls could talk, the story they would tell would be full of fires, flood, and community spirit. Every year more than 60,000 visitors head to the distillery and its visitor centre for a tour that’s as surprising as it is historically rich.

You'll be immersed in the tales of the rum's origins on a tour that takes you through history right up to the present day. And your behind-the-scenes experience will take you from the molasses (have a taste!) and through the two-year spirit making process before it hits the bottle. Explore the cavernous barrel house where enormous white oak vats sit silently maturing the spirit within, and learn about the closely guarded, unique strain of yeast that combines to create a rum taste like no other.

To end the tour, make your way to the bar for a tasting, where you can sample a selection of Bundaberg's best rums on offer.

Want to wander at your own pace? Take a self-guided tour of the Distillery Museum Experience. A transformed “Bondstore” – that is, one of the red brick buildings within which the award-winning rum is aged to perfection – houses the largest collection of Bundaberg Rum bottles in the world.

Become a master blender

Bundaberg Rum Distillery | Blend your own rum experience

Fancy yourself a flavour-master? If you want to get a little more hands-on, sign up for the Blend Your Own Experience.

Step into the barrel house and get ready to play master distiller. Under the guidance of two experts, craft your own unique rum based on your favourite flavours from an assortment of sherry, bourbon, heavy charred American oak, port or scotch whisky, and discover which combination makes your tastebuds pop.

Once you’ve created a personalised blend to take home, the recipe is kept at the distillery so when you run out, all you have to do is order another bottle of your personal blend. We can't think of a better souvenir.

While you're here in Bundaberg, taste your way through the local breweries, cideries, distilleries and producers along the foodie trail, discover the best things to do in the region, or take this road-trip with the family to meet the reef and the turtles.