Remember that red building on the side of the highway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast?  That’s the $5 million Beenleigh Rum visitor centre. This Queensland success story dates back to 1884. The folk at Beenleigh Rum like to remind everyone that they are Australia’s oldest registered distillery and their rum was created even before the invention of Coca Cola.

Beenleigh Rum is K2’s favourite, but I was brought up on Bundaberg Rum and can’t change.  It’s also the perfect rum for Johnnie’s Favourite Rum Balls! Read on for two great rum cocktail recipes and how to make a delicious pineapple rum at home.

Beenleigh Rum tastings

The Beenleigh Artisan Distillery Visitor Centre houses a museum which is the starting point for the distillery tours which include everything from a chocolate matching experience and distillers rum tasting to a craft your own session.

Located next to the Albert River in Eagleby, the distillery sources its molasses from one of the few family-owned sugar mills still remaining in Australia.

There are four experiences to sample at the distillery including a classic rum tasting and a distillery selection rum tasting. Dedicated rum lovers might like to make their own after a distillery tour while sweet tooth might prefer the rum and chocolate tasting experience.

Beenleigh Rum tours

(Please note – tours are still on hold, but the visitor centre is open and tastings are available.)

Visitors on a Beenleigh Artisan Distillery tour travel on a time trip back through the still house, which still bears testament to the 1887 Albert River flood, to the giant barrel hall. Here the air is thick with what is known as the Angel’s share, the spirit that evaporates from the barrel as the rum ages.

They can see how Beenleigh Rum has returned to the quality and craft for which it was once renowned. The distilling process uses small-batch copper pot distillation, aging in barrels instead of large vats and quality local ingredients, such as molasses from the family-owned Rocky Point Sugar Mill just a few kilometres down the road.

You’ll find Beenleigh Rum at 142 Distillery Rd, Eagleby.

 

Two Beenleigh Rum Cocktails

Looking for the perfect fruity rum drink to wash down those sizzling snags straight off the barbie or the ultimate prawn sanger? These rum cocktails will hit the spot.

It’s got to be something with a little guts, a real Aussie brew that will put hair on your chest (only if you want it) and a smile on your dial.

Here are two cocktails that speak to your inner true blue and they are rum inspired of course straight from the rum makers at Queensland’s own Beenleigh Rum.

So, picture yourself wrapping your lips around a totally modern rum cocktail, the Working Class Man or slip down the perfect white rum cocktail – the Queensland Colada.

Here are the recipes, which includes how to make a pineapple-infused fruity rum drink spirit. or mosey on down to the distillery.

Working Class Man Rum Cocktail

What a combo, a rum cocktail topped off with your favourite ale. This is the modern rum cocktail the world has been waiting for!

Ingredients

  • 45ml Beenleigh 5-year Double Barrel Rum
  • 20ml Fresh Lime Juice
  • 20ml Grenadine
  • Topped with Fortitude Golden Ale

Method

  • Shake the rum, lime & grenadine together in a shaker.
  • Before pouring, add beer to shaker, then pour into glass.
  • Garnish with a double orange slice.

​Queensland Colada White Rum Cocktail

Will you be able to stop at one of these fruity rum drinks?

Ingredients

  • 30ml Pineapple Infused Beenleigh White Rum (see below for recipe)
  • 15ml Banana Liqueur
  • 10ml White Cacao Liqueur
  • 40ml Pineapple Juice
  • 1 Slice of rum-infused pineapple (see recipe for Pineapple Infused Beenleigh White Rum)

Method

  • Add all ingredients to a blender (we use a Nutri-bullet), with a half scoop of ice, and blend until smooth.
  • Garnish with a pineapple leaf (I didn’t have any currently, so substituted a mint sprig).

​How to make Pineapple Infused Rum

This pineapple-infused rum is the secret ingredient for the fruity rum drink above.  It’s a great flavour combination so see what else you can do with it. I’d like to try it drizzled over a rich fruit cake. This was always my mother’s secret way of turning an ordinary Christmas cake into something everyone wanted to eat!

Ingredients

  • 2 bottles of Beenleigh White Rum
  • 1 fresh pineapple
  • 2 tablespoons of raw sugar

Method

  • Slice up a fresh pineapple
  • Put into a container with sugar and rum
  • Leave for 3 days.

Do you prefer gin?

Read more about these craft distilled gins – Brisbane Gin and Larrikin Gin.

Disclaimer:  Recipe supplied by Beenleigh Rum.