For someone who hasn’t touched rum for decades, I’m apprehensive. As instructed, I let the glass sit for a few minutes to allow the alcohol fumes to evaporate before I stick my nose in. The rums of my youth, drunk purely for effect, were dark and funky and required copious amounts of Coke to temper the fierce heat. But this one is a revelation – complex and intense, it smells of vanilla, cinnamon and citrus peel, infused with a smokiness. It’s smooth, luxuriant, even sexy. As well it should be at $250 a nip.
If there were such thing as a “state drink” then dark rum would be Queensland’s. Queenslanders drink roughly double the national average volume of rum. It’s been a longstanding relationship, with rum’s early production encouraged by the state government for the revenue it raised from taxes.
