After 12 days of rigorous judging the Beenleigh Artisan Distillery and Inner Circle Rum were awarded gold at the recent International Spirits Challenge (ISC) 2021.
Beenleigh, based in Queensland, took out the top prize for its Distillery Exclusive 2017 Flood Rum which was born in the chaos of Tropical Cyclone Debbie in March 2017.
After flood waters inundated the distillery master distiller, Wayne Stewart, ran the ferment through the Copper Pot Still and hand bottled the unique drop.
“A product made from adversity as a result of the flood damage we had at the distillery, something good came from something bad. I knew the day we distilled it that it was going to be something special,” said Wayne.
Meanwhile, Inner Circle Rum’s gold was awarded for the Australian Navy Strength & Australian Cask Strength rums.
Wayne said the multiple wins by Beenleigh and Inner Circle Rum was an indication of the quality of rum coming from local producers.
“We can produce rum as good or better as other distilleries around the world. Our recent sales into Europe have shown me that people are just discovering that our Australian rum is something that people are looking for and happy to purchase,” said Wayne.