After almost 20 years distilling award-winning gins, Distillery Botanica has created its first small-batch dark rum in a barrel room beneath the Central Coast distillery.
Almost three years in the making, the first release of Terrigal Rum Co premium dark rum is a limited-edition batch called ‘Luscious’.
As the name suggests, it’s a luscious spirit, with a rich honeyed texture and notes of baked dessert spice, caramel, dried fruit and a hint of ginger. After being aged in a combination of barrels including new medium toast American oak, Jack Daniels Tennessee whiskey, and 60-year-old brandy, it has a long-lasting complex of savoury fine tannins, and an aroma of honey, peach, cinnamon, hazelnut, allspice, marmalade and toffee.
The new premium rum is the dark sibling of the original white Terrigal Rum Co spirit, first produced at the distillery in 2023.
Master Distiller Philip Moore said: “While gin will always be our forte, we can sense a rum revolution brewing and wanted to be at the forefront of the local craft rum scene, just as we were for gin back in the ‘00s, when we were one of the first commercial small-scale distilleries in Australia.
“Our uniquely Australian dark rum has a luxurious, velvety complex of dried tropical fruit, toasted oaks and bakery spices, with whispers of ginger, marmalade, toffee, brandy and caramel.
“The first batch of our Terrigal Rum Co premium dark rum, ‘Luscious’, is an approachable, enjoyable crowd-pleaser, best enjoyed neat or on the rocks, with a wedge of aged cheese, some chocolate or gingerbread. It’s simply sublime.
“Creating this dark rum has been a labour of love and I’ve enjoyed crafting the spirit from scratch with a delicious Australian molasses and following the journey of the rum over the past three years in our purpose-built barrel room. I’m delighted with the result and can’t wait to share each new release with visitors to the distillery.”
Priced at $130, Terrigal Rum Co premium dark rum is available in a rare rectangular bottle with a copper embossed label.
The Australian rum has been produced with subtropical molasses from the Clarence River Valley and a variety of wine yeasts from France, Italy and Australia, distilled in a hybrid copper still, and aged in multiple barrels including American white oak, second-fill bourbon and 60-year-old brandy.
Following the first limited-edition ‘Luscious’ release, the distillery is launching ‘The French Connection’ blend aged in French oak barrels, contributing to a rich profile of dried fruit, sweet toffee, and marmalade, and ‘Raisin’ Toast’, aged in new American white oak barrels with medium toast plus creating an aroma of toasted raisin bread, complete with mouth-watering notes of fruit and spice.
The first three batches are now available to taste and purchase at the Erina distillery. Distillery Botanica is open Wednesday to Sunday from 11am to 4pm.