History - The
Sugar Mill
One of the most interesting by-products of turning sugar cane
into sugar is a rich, black, heavy liquid called molasses.
The fermenters
This molasses is piped direct from the mill to the Bundaberg
Distillery. Here it is clarified and water is added together with
a specially prepared yeast solution and piped to giant 42,000 litre
fermenting tanks where it stays for 36 hours. The fermented molasses
mixture then travels to the wash column.
The Wash Column
This is a continuous distillation column. The fermented liquid
enters at the top of the column and seeps down through level after
level of horizontal trays. High pressure steam is fed in at the
bottom of the column and is forced up through the liquid. A steady
stream of alcohol vapour emerges from the top of the column.
The Pot Still
The pot still is really like a giant kettle. Once again steam
is applied… vapour leaves the pot still… it is condensed
… and transferred to the raw rum receiver.
The Maturation Vats
From
the raw rum reciver, the raw alcohol is transferred to huge storage
vats. These 60,000 litre vats are extremely important to the final
taste of Bundy Rum.
Every
drop of Bundy Rum is aged in these vats for a minimum of 2 years.
There are over a hundred of these vats at the Bundaberg Distillery… all constructed of the very finest white oak. The vats are housed
in specially constructed buildings designed to minimise temperature
fluctuations.
Chemical
and Taste Analysis
At
regular intervals during the maturing process, samples are taken
for various chemical and taste tests that are performed to ensure
that both taste and aroma are developing satisfactorily. After this
traditional "ageing in oak"… and after everything
is checked out and just right… the mature rum is ready for
bottling.
Bottling
The
rum is then either loaded into giant tankers for transfer to bottling
plants in other cities… or is conveyed direct to the bottling
plant at the Bundaberg Distillery.
Here
it is bottled … capped … labelled … and packed in
cartons ready for delivery to retail outlets all over. Australlia
and around the world.
