A little about barrels and how we do it
Unlike say, wine or beer, dark spirits start their life relatively light on flavour. Off the still, spirits are clear, with traces of the base material of the ferment coming through. It’s when these new-make spirits start to commingle in a barrel, drawing out flavours, bonding with other compounds, that we see the magic of distilling x barrels x time.
For Red Mill, we thought the chance to do something truely unique was at hand. What if we aged beautiful Rum in a barrel program not unlike a fine wine? Instead of only looking for old bourbon barrels, (the traditional marriage in Rum), what about sourcing casks that previously held Sauternes, Port, Cognac, Madeira, various sherries and beyond? What about working with some of the world’s greatest wine estates to use their barrels when they’re done?
In 2020 I started talking with colleagues and contacts around the world to source unique barrels for the program. Old friends helped alongside new friends that loved the vision. We started to compile these barrels from all corners of the world through 2020 and 2021.
Amongst the first we filled were 100-year-old Cognac barrels, aged Sherry pipes, white Bordeaux barrels from Graves, to name a few, as well as barriques that once elevaged one of Australia’s most sought after red wines.
The magic of oak, and the fingerprint it brings Rum, is where so much of the joy comes from.
