PRIMARY FLAVOURS

• Coconut
• Caramel
• Honey
• Dark sugar

Story

The Red Mill Rum story is as much about the Fesq family as it is about rum. Wine and spirits traders since the 1840s, the Fesqs remain key Australian liquor distributors. It was George 'Bunny' Fesq who first started making rum in the 1930s, buying casks from the CSR refinery in inner Sydney and packaging up the first Fesq's Red Mill rum.

By the 1950s, Red Mill Rum was selling an astonishing 300,000 cases a year until it was sold to the William Grant whisky house in 1979. Red Mill Rum was then forgotten in a corporate portfolio and removed from production. That was until 2020 when sixth-generation Fesq family member David Fesq brought the brand back to life.

Using labels that recreate the old imagery from 1940s bottles, and made in a new distillery in Rozelle, not far from the old CSR refinery, the reborn Red Mill Rum is back—and even with a spirit based on the old recipe. Matured in a fascinating array of old wine and spirits barrels, these hand-made rums are something to admire.

This uncompromising coconut rum is a sublime drink. It involves a base of aged Red Mill rum infused with coconut oil, flakes, and fresh pulp—all done by hand, in small batches, and bottled with just 26g/L sugar (a quarter of most coconut rum). What a drink it is, too—it's rich and wildly coconutty, but in a way that feels real and detailed rather than fake and confected.

Specs

PAIRING GUIDE

Coconut rum offers a fascinating set of contrasting flavours that actual work very well with all sorts of dishes. Obviously, it works perfectly with lime and pineapple juice for a next-level Pina Colada, but we also like it with Asian soy drenches noodles and sticky ribs, pork tacos with fresh mangos, jackfruit curry or a pineapple and apple upside-down cake.

RECIPE MATCHES

• Spicy Pineapple Chicken
• Spiced Apple Upside-Down Cake
• Spiced Roasted Pineapple