Dead Reckoning Australia 9 Year Bourbon Cask. We have become quite familiar with the Dead Reckoning line up of rums of the past couple of years. For those who are unacquainted with the bottler they are one of the first Australian Independent bottlers. Certainly one of the first to be exporting to the lucrative EU and US markets.

Headed up by Justin Boseley, I have been hugely impressed by their output thus far. As well as bottling more popular and in demand distillery rums, such as Foursquare, they have also been happy to bottle some less well known distillers and produce some very “out there” single cask offerings. Along with a few bespoke blends.

Today, we are a reviewing a 9 year old rum from the iconic Australian distillery Beenleigh. In a real twist of fate this rum was aged for 4 years in tropical North Queensland, Australia before being sold on to a European rum broker, where it has enjoyed a further 5 years of continental ageing. It was then picked up by Australian Justin Boseley to be bottled as part of his Dead Reckoning line up.

Dead Reckoning Australia 9 Year Bourbon Cask is a blend of Pot and Column distilled rums. The rum is produced from locally sourced molasses and the fermentation period prior to distillation is between 24 and 72 hours. The rum has been aged as I mentioned already for 4 years in Tropical North Queensland and a further 5 years in the less tropical port of Amsterdam. It has been aged in ex-bourbon barrels (small white oak).

This is a EU and US only release and is limited to 430 bottles, it is a single cask rum and has been bottled at a beefy 55% ABV. No additives and no chill filtration.

For those unfamiliar with the Beenleigh Distillery it first began distilling rum in 1884 (though it has not been active continuously), whilst not quite as well known as Bundaberg in their native Australia they are largely seen as being a far superior producer. They have also produced “genuine” Navy rum which was issued to the Australian Navy for their daily tot.

Justin has began to seek out distributors in the EU and here in the UK we are fortunate enough to find that he has enlisted Rarerumclub to handle distrbution and he is using Zeewijck in the Netherlands for EU distribution.

The rum is priced at £107 for a 70cl bottle.

So that is as much information as I have on this particular bottling so we may as well move on to the fun part.

In the glass Dead Reckoning Australia 9 Year Bourbon Cask is your typical “aged rum” colour. A nice golden to dark brown with a slightly yellow/orange hue.

On the nose (and even before its near my nose) I am getting wafts of vanilla and oak spice. Some walnuts and peanut brittle. It is many ways very typical of an English Style of rum. Think of Foursquare or (non pun intended) English Harbour in particular. There is a lot to be said for a well blended Pot/Column rum. Something which I feel is often overlooked by some rum enthusiasts.

Having said that this isn’t a particularly gentle rum. We are not talking about English Harbour 5 Year Old or Doorly’s XO. No the extra ABV certainly gives this more of a punch. So we are more in keeping with a Foursquare ECS or the Velier Antigua bottlings.

Another thing which gives this rum a little more “oomph” is the unmistakable hit of molasses which carries over the nose. There is a really nice “treacly” note which I really enjoy.

SIpped, initially the rum is quite fiery with the molasses and oak spice taking centre stage. A few sips in and as the palate and throat acclimatise to the rum – we begin to get more of the softer bourbon influenced notes. So the suggested flavours from the nose begin to shine through. Vanilla, light caramel and peanuts all appear.

As we move into the mid palate I begin to get the molasses coming back along with a very nice hit of oak and spice. I’m also getting notes of corn flakes and I keep thinking about freshly buttered toast and golden syrup. There is a hint of smokiness.

The finish is dry but very long. The molasses and caramel notes stick around for a long time after the sip. As your mouth dries out the oak and spice come out to play again giving a very more-ish feel to this spirit.

This is the first time I have sat down properly with a distillate from Beenleigh. I have to say I am highly impressed.

This is great stuff.