Plantation Rum - Australia 2007

Rum from Australia? This one's a genuine discovery. Distilled back in 2007 at Beenleigh Artisan Distillery, it's a pot-still molasses rum that started life fermented with a wildly unusual yeast called Schizosaccharomyces pombe before a finishing pass with a standard strain. It then aged 13 years in ex-bourbon barrels Down Under, plus a final year in Maison Ferrand French oak in Charente. The nose leans stone fruit, vanilla, and coconut; the palate brings cooked fruit, citrus, and smooth cacao. Bottled at 49.3%, sip it slowly, neat.