Raising Glasses The Yowie Strikes Back 17 Year Single Cask Rum Australia. Star Wars themed….urgh.

I’m not much of a Sci-Fi nut if I am being honest. Which seems quite uncommon amongst my fellow Rum Enthusiasts. Many of whom appear to be a lot more “geeky” with regard Sci-Fi/Marvel/DC and all that carry on. Well actually a lot of them are a lot more geeky than me about rum as well.

When I was at growing up you got bullied for being a “geek”. Watching Star Wars was okay, as that was pretty mainstream. Bit Knight Rider as well on a Saturday night. If you were reading Spiderman comics or talking Klingon or painting miniature Orcs a kicking wouldn’t be far off for you though.

That said I was never a great fan of Science Fiction even as a kid. I had a few Star Wars toys but only so I wouldn’t be left out.. I do remember getting some pretty rare figure from some bizarre discount shop in Holiday in Blackpool or Scarborough one time. It was the talk of the playground and I managed to swap it for some Goalkeeper gloves and about 500 football stickers. Don’t ask me what the figure was I have no clue. It was no interest to me then and of even less interest now! Nearly filled my sticker book though……I also avoided having the figure pinched from me. Which was happened to the person I swapped it with!

Anyway, I get the Star Wars reference even though the only Star Wars related film I have any re-collection of seeing was the the Ewok Spin Off “Caravan of Courage”. We rented it from the shop at the end of the street and the selection wasn’t that hot. I recall we once rented a film and it had been taped off the telly complete with commercials. I’ve seen bits and bobs of the first three Star Wars movies at Christmas but never actually sat down and deliberately set about watching a full film.

Raising Glasses The Yowie Strikes Back 17 Year Single Cask Rum Australia hails from the oldest and probably the second most famous distillery in Australia Beenleigh. As much as it pains me to say, I think Bundaberg is the more famous distillery – especially worldwide. How Bundaberg has obtained this fame perhaps makes it more infamous but as they say all publicity is good publicity.

The Yowie, if it isn’t obvious from the bottle shot is Australia’s “Bigfoot”. Quite exactly how that links to the rum in this bottle is anyone’s guess but it makes for an interesting label and naming convention. This is the 1st of 2 “Yowie” themed Star Wars related rums. In total Raising Glasses have released 3 Yowie related rums the first being a “Heavy Metal Edition”. I have no idea…….

So the rum is noted as being Pot Still. However having spoke with Steve Magarry (Who worked at Beenleigh for many years) Beenleigh do run some of their wash through a column before it is pot distilled (at least I think that is what he was telling me!) so it isn’t truly 100% Pot Still rum, in the true sense. Still more of a Pot/Column blend. I may have not quite understood this process to be honest so any further info greatly appreciated. Further evidence of my lack of geeky credentials.

The rum has been aged for 12 Years in Tropical Queensland in ex-Bourbon casks before being transferred to the UK for a further 5 years of ageing. The rear label of this release notes that the rum is produced from the S Pombe pre-2010 yeast strain. I have seen references to S Pombe before in rum circles but I’ll be honest I haven’t really looked into it that much. Have I ever mentioned that I’m not a very geeky rum geek?

Raising Glasses The Yowie Strikes Back 17 Year Single Cask Rum Australia comes in a 375ml bottle – which is a sort of feature for Raising Glasses and is priced at $65. It is bottled at 69.1% ABV. The size and price go hand in hand to try and get more people to try “better” rums. To be fair the price of an Independent 70cl bottling can be pretty daunting for those not so experienced in the world of rum.

5% of the profits from this bottle go towards North Queensland Animal Rescue centre.

It is, alas only available in the US. We do however have plenty Beenleigh distilled Independently bottled rum available in the UK. So this will give a good indication of what you will find if you do splash the cash on a Beenleigh. I will note at this point that unlike Beenleigh’s “official” bottlings – you won’t find any additives in the Indie bottlings. Sadly the official output can have a little special sauce added……..not all but some.

For such a well travelled rum, Raising Glasses the Yowie Strikes Back 17 Year Single Cask Rum Australia, presents itself quite “normally” in the glass. It is classic golden/dark brown rum. It looks a little dull/cloudy. Not something which anyone should associate in a negative manner. Its just an observation. This is common in higher ABV spirits.

For those unfamiliar with Beenleigh they produce a style of rum which has several similarities with “British” inspired Caribbean Islands such as Barbados, Antigua and Saint Lucia.

So on the nose we are immediately met with oak spices from those ex-bourbon casks. You also get some rich tofffee and butterscotch notes. It’s a welcoming kind of rum and its familiar style will appeal to Bajan and Saint Lucian rum lovers.

Further nosing reveals some custard and some light banana notes. Maybe a hint of shoe leather and a touch of soot.

The Saint Lucian influence comes across especially in the more herbal notes. Pot Pourri and some Eucalyptus or some kind of herbal plant.

It’s all very nicely balanced and well integrated with every working well in tandom.

On the sip even at the full ABV (and you have plenty leeway to add some h2o it is a very nice sipper. Though I feel a few drops of water do help it open up a little.

The initial sip is quite fiery with plenty of oak spice and some herbal notes becoming apparent. Further sips reveal more of the softer toffee and butterscotch notes and the banana and custard also put in appearance.

As we move into the mid palate you notice a leathery note and a good development of smoky aromas. The flavour certainly builds up nicely on this one.

It’s a rum worth spending time with and savouring. Don’t rush it with this one. It has a surprisingly amount of complexity to it. It’s very much a Foursquare/1931 kind of hybrid rum. Which lets be honest would not be a bad thing?

The finish even when you “down proof” this is very long and very enjoyable – old leather arm chairs, freshly swept chimneys and tobacco. All are all held in line by the lovely sweet balance of the toffee, banana and butterscotch.

I didn’t mix this rum and I don’t think anyone picking up a bottle should either.

Excellent stuff.