Holmes Cay Beenleigh Australia 2012 10 Year Single Cask Rum

Beenleigh is Australia's oldest registered distillery, and its origin story is genuinely strange: a copper still washed ashore from the steamboat S.S. Walrus, and local cane growers used it to start making rum in Queensland in 1884. Production paused briefly in 1969 before restarting in 1972, and it's run continuously since. This Holmes Cay single cask edition — Cask No. 90 from the 2022 fall collection — is 100% pot still rum distilled from Queensland molasses in 2012, aged six years in American oak in Australia, then shipped to the UK for four more years in ex-bourbon casks before bottling in New York State at 122 proof (61% ABV). Non-chill filtered, no sugar, no coloring, no additives, in keeping with everything Eric Kaye's independent bottling company puts out. Holmes Cay's own notes describe gentle sweetness and vanilla on the nose with fruit and mint giving way to savory character, the finish integrating oak and mineral notes. Independent reviewers found more of a wild animal: Drinkhacker described an oily, black-pepper-and-molasses nose and a pungent, almost green palate that opens into banana pudding and toasted marshmallow with water, while Memphis Rum Club called the sheer complexity distracting enough to make you forget the proof. Distinctly whiskey-friendly and unlike almost any rum you've had. Add water.