Husk Rum was Australia’s first farm-to-bottle distillery and creator of Agricole rum – a rum made from freshly squeezed sugar cane rather than molasses. Food & Drink Business caught up with founder Paul Messenger to hear the Husk story and plans for its future.
What were you doing before establishing Husk?
I worked as an exploration geologist for 20 years from the West Australian goldfields to the Tanami desert and the top end of the Northern Territory to the old Victorian goldfields, up to Cape York, the Solomon Islands and the wilds of Borneo. I spent a lot of time in swags in the bush, which fostered my deep appreciation for the land.
What prompted you to start Husk?
Inspiration sparked on a visit to the French Caribbean. Being a Queenslander, both rum and sugarcane had always been part of the landscape growing up, but we had only ever made one style of rum in Australia – molasses rum.
In the French Caribbean they make rum from fresh cane juice instead of molasses, with each island having a unique ‘terroir’ that is reflected in the cane juice and on into the rum they produce. This style of rum was unlike anything I had tasted before – dry, complex, and more similar to a malt whisky than the rums I was used to drinking back home.
This idea of capturing the essence of the land and the seasonal variations of each harvest in a spirit captured my imagination, so we started looking for a unique geological cane-growing region to settle down in. The Tweed, the deepest caldera in the southern hemisphere, fit the bill perfectly.
It’s been just over 10 years since you established, what have been the key milestones for you?
Getting our development application and excise licence approved was an 18-month process. That was in August 2012, and we immediately converted an old farm shed into a pilot plant distillery. By December, we had planted one acre of sugarcane and cut 6 tonnes of cane from our neighbour’s farm before finally filling two barrels of what would become Australia’s first ever Agricole rum.
In 2015, we released the world’s first patented gin and the first colour changing gin, which became one of the most popular gins in Australia.
Last year we commissioned our new sugar mill capable of crushing 10 tonnes of cane per hour, the first of its kind in Australia designed to make juice rum instead of sugar.
On 8 May this year, after almost 12 years in the making, we released our first core range dark rum, Husk Rare Blend. This beautiful spirit is a unique blend of two styles of rum developed by Husk over the last ten years – fresh cane juice rum and rum made from evaporated cane syrup. With its distinct flavour profile, we call this a modern Australian rum that is leading a new wave of premium Aussie-made spirits. Move over whiskey!
You started with a hand-fed mill – what do operations look like now?
As Australia’s first and only farm-to-bottle distillery, there was no manual on how to set it up. We have been through three upgrades to our sugar mill, from our first hand-fed mill to a larger Indian mill modified by us to crush chopped cane to our current custom-design. Then we invested $2 million in an automated mill that will underpin our ambitions to premiumise the rum category in Australia.
We also recently commissioned a 1500 bottle per hour production line backed up with a fully compliant, plc-controlled flammable liquid storage and handling system that boasts a 300,000-litre barrel house and a 90,000-litre blending and storage tank house, one of the safest, most modern facilities in Australia.
Explain the concept of farm-to-bottle?
A farm-to-bottle or single estate distillery operation should grow its own raw materials (in our case sugar cane), crush, filter, ferment, distil, barrel, blend and bottle the product all on the same farm, re-using all waste streams on the property or value adding them for sale to others.
This approach can capture a sense of provenance or terroir.
Some things can be made anywhere in the world without limitations but products with terroir can only be made in certain places and often only at certain times of the year. Juice rum is seasonal.
Our juice rum is the essence of farm to bottle. Unlike molasses, fresh juice can’t be stored, and it can’t be transported. Rum made from fresh juice can only be made during the harvest months and only on or very near a cane farm.
In the paddock, wild yeast strains live on the cane stalk beneath the dried trash leaves. As soon as you cut the stalk that wild yeast starts to ferment the juice and can have unpredictable results so fermentation must be controlled within a few hours of harvest.
What can you tell us about the Australian rum industry?
The Australian rum market is worth over $600 million with just under half (46 per cent) of the domestic market made up of Aussie distillers.
Following from the success of the craft gin boom, the premiumisation of rum is now undeniable in Australia with a new wave of domestic producers like Husk who are creating something exciting, and the introduction of global heritage brands which previously were not imported to Australia.
A rising interest in artisanal and high-quality rum is due to a growing appreciation for unique flavour profiles with an influx of new brands into the domestic market.
In fact, there has been 20 per cent market growth in Australia with 48 brands currently offering 111 rum products compared to just 21 brands with 38 products in 2012. This follows a greater global demand for craft and premium rum, which has seen a 16 per cent increase over the last three years.
Looking ahead, what are your goals for the business?
We want to change the perception of rum and introduce Australians to new and exciting consumer experiences. It’s our goal to help Australian’s find their rum and rediscover this highly versatile spirit.
In doing so we want to become part of the culture and identity of our region, the Caldera Coast and bring value to our regional community. We want to be part of the next chapter in Australian rum history, leading the premiumisation of this iconic spirit that has always been part of our national identity.
