Spent the day at Nil Desperandum tasting across their entire range, from their initial limited edition releases, to the upcoming core range, and the single casks of the 1871 Club. My gratitude to Matt, Adam (@wine_and_spirit_inc), and Locky (@rumapprentice) for taking the afternoon to walk me through literally everything at Nil Desperandum - from the molasses, to the fermentation process, distillation, aging program, and their experiments with various yeasts and of course their trademark muck pits and dunder.

Here was also a peek at their new aging shed just a short drive away from their distillation area, and tasting some of their experimental casks such as the pombe yeast rum, banana rum, sugarcane juice rum (which was very very good), and their attempt at the “rum fire”.

While I usually am not a fan of high ester rums, I did find Nil Desperandum’s liquid very enjoyable, as the use of port and sherry casks acted as a great balancer to the higher esters, bringing a little more roundness and body to pair with the burst of tropical fruitiness from the rums.

What appealed me to me most, was the endeavour to experiment, to venture where most Australian rums have not, which is reflected in that diverse range of rums, even though the distillation only began in 2020. Looking very much forward to tasting many more great rums from Nil Desperandum!

Image Courtesy of @weixiang_liu