Overview
Brand: Raising Glasses
Origin: Beenleigh Rum Distillery, Eagleby, Queensland, Australia
Still: Pot & Column Blend
Age: 16 years
Finish: ex-Bourbon
ABV: 68.3%
This next bottle was an instant hit in the Memphis Rum Club. We had a virtual tasting with John and Lorri from Raising Glasses in 2023, and Yowie was one of the crowd favorites. My fiancée Helen and I both decided to procure our own bottles after we tried it earlier that year; mine has long since dried up, and Helen was kind enough to let me enjoy hers.
While many IB Beenleigh releases have high praise– including from this very blog– Yowie is special due to the particular strain of yeast used in fermentation, called S. Pombe. Rums that have this yeast in their fermentation profile yield a specific funk, distinct from others produced by the Aussie distiller. Sadly, Beenleigh discontinued the use of S. Pombe in 2010; now, this profile is as elusive as the Australian cryptid after which Yowie is named.
Raising Glasses Yowie is a blend of pot and column still rums, produced from a base of molasses at the Beenleigh distillery in Eagleby, Queensland. It aged for 11 years at origin in Australia, before making the trek to Europe for an additional 5 years of aging, all in ex-Bourbon casks. The rum was finally bottled in New Hampshire at a whopping 68.3% ABV.
Like other Raising Glasses releases, 5% of this bottle’s profits goes to the North Queensland Animal Rescue of Australia.
Appearance
Gold, medium viscosity
Nose
Honeydew melon, buttered croissants, freshly-cut flowers, vanilla syrup, caramelized pineapple, fresh grapefruit, butterscotch, overripe red grapes
Palate
Grilled pineapple, butterscotch, candied grapefruit, floral honey, vanilla, honeydew melon, touch of cinnamon, anise seed
Finish
Medium-long, hot, floral; vanilla, oak, caramel, eucalyptus, cinnamon, overripe grapes
Rating: 9/10
Summary
Yowie is one of my favorite rums of the past few years, and a great coup by Raising Glasses. The S. Pombe really does produce some great juice that reinforces the level of quality in the production team at Beenleigh.
Like most other rums from the distillery, Yowie is heavily floral, silky, and brings a bit of balanced sweetness. Honey, melon, vanilla, butterscotch, candied grapefruit, and caramelized pineapple bring these notes throughout the nose, palate, and finish.
This is such an excellent, all-round good pour that keeps begging me to go back to the glass.