Beenleigh 5 Year Old Dark Rum

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IMG_7123Beenleigh 5 Year Old Dark Rum is made in Queensland, in Beenleigh, inbetween Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

This is made in Australia’s oldest registered distillery, just 4 years older than Bundy, and is owned by Australian company Vok Beverages.

Their rum very proudly a Queensland product, with all ingredients being tightly controlled. Molasses is sought from Rocky Point Sugar Mill, which is Australia’s last remaining privately owned sugar mill just 15km from the distillery.

Beenleigh Rum seem to delight in using Queensland, family-owned sugar cane farm product, and they should be. So many companies try to lower their cost of production at the expense of food miles, and so this puts Beenleigh high on my ethics list.

Beenleigh’s Rum Bottle

All of Beenleigh’s products look similar, they look middle shelf, prestige and minimalistic.

We think they have a masculine blokey look about them, it doesn’t feel like a lady’s bottle. It also looks distinctively like other Aussie rum bottles, and feels right at home on an Aussie bloke’s bar.

Beenleigh 5 Year Old Dark Rum Tasting Notes

This rum divides the Wenches. We’ve polarised into 2 distinct camps, those who love this Aussie rum representation, and those who distinctly dislike it.

IMG_7142Smells like in-fighting

The LOVE IT camp are intoxicated by the intense caramel vanilla nose. The moment you take the top off the bottle the aroma fills the room, and we’ve asked each other with delight, “Oh, what’s that yummy smell!” It’s not unlike the smell of caramel syrup that dodgy coffee shops might add to your latte.

The nose is amplified by the tropicalness of underripe fruit, pineapple and banana. There’s a hint of herbiness, like fresh cut grass.

And a lingering burnt orange brings the nose all together in a neat, delicious aroma of eager anticipation.

The DISLIKE IT camp smell all the unpleasantness of superglue. One Wench smelt it, and said, “I ain’t drinking this.” They detect a grungy acetone, like that nasty Austrian rum Stroh. It smells like a dirty rotten pirate.

Overall, this is what we smelt;

  • Rich sweetness; caramel vanilla syrup & golden syrup
  • Underripe tropical fruit of banana & pineapple
  • Fresh cut grass
  • Grungy acetone, just like Stroh
  • Dirty rotten pirate

Tastes like a Winter warmer!

IMG_7171The first thing that hits you about the Beenleigh 5 Year Old is the warmth that takes over your palate and gives it a big cuddle. There’s a distinct burn that will perturb new neat rum drinkers, but experienced rum drinkers will feel right at home here. It’s fairly typical of the burn you feel with younger rums.

Distinctly, all drinkers identified a metallic minerality, and in general found it to be unpleasant. Luckily, it falls off the palate quickly.

The flavour left behind is a gorgeous and distinct candied mandarin rind, it’s sweet, citrussy and delicious.

One of our Wenches identified a lingering Calypso mango on the end, with pine wood.

Overall, here’s what we tasted:

  • Sweet smooth warm heat
  • Metallic minerality
  • Candied mandarin rind
  • Vanilla & coffee beans
  • Calypso mango
  • Pine wood

Overall thoughts

3 of us loved it, and 3 of us wouldn’t buy another bottle. It really is a polarising drop to drink neat.

We suspect that this rum would be more pleasing to most as a mixer, but definitely makes an interesting and cheap addition to a home bar.

We think being Australia’s oldest rum producer that Beenleigh has some die-hard fans, and most of those enjoy this rum with Coke.

You can get it everywhere!

Beenleigh 5YO Dark Rum is really easy to find. We have found it in every bottle shop we visited, so distribution looks solid in Australia.

The distillery re-opened last year to allow for visits and tours. We haven’t been, but we’d love to! Here’s a map to the Beenleigh Distillery.

They also make…

A honey liqueur and a white rum. Have you tried these?