Welcome to the most complex maturation program we have ever seen….and its EXCLUSIVE to the Tribe! From the vintage Sydney rum brand, Red Mill, we are excited to launch a rum with as unique a spectrum of aromas and flavours as we have  ever tasted – The Red Mill Rum Cascading Cask!

Now let’s explain this exclusive release for the Rum Tribe, and possibly the most intricate maturation regime we have ever witnessed! The first step of the maturation was two years in a 225L ex-Bourbon (American oak) cask which was then split into two 125L Quarter Casks (comprised of mixed staves from ex-bourbon, fortified and wine casks) for a further year. After this the two 125L casks were split into 20L toasted American oak casks for yet another 12 months before being decanted, re-married and bottled exclusively for the Rum Tribe at 4 years of age and 44.4% abv.

Red Mill spirit is lighter and cleaner than a lot of ‘artisanal’ rum makers due in part to their use of a column still which helps extract a crisper spirit – less oily and more refined. They use a mix of Winemaker’s PDM (Chardonnay) and Fusion (Pinot Noir) yeasts. Approximately 96 hours of fermentation giving a ~7.5% yield. This produces a spirit with as unique a spectrum of aromas and flavours as I’ve ever tasted.

Now Red Mill Rum is a great story. The co-owner Dave Fesq is the great-grandson of the original owner of the brand George Fesq. Red Mill (in its first iteration) kicked off in 1933 and was contract distilled by the CSR refinery. In 1946 George’s son Bill returned from WW2 and took the brand to considerable commercial success – selling over 300,000 bottles/year by 1950 and establishing itself as NSW’s (and particularly Sydney’s) ‘go-to’ rum. A household name. In 1979, the brand was sold to William Grant and eventually ‘mothballed’ in the mid-80’s.

In 2020, David Fesq teamed up with Garth Foster (previously Moet Hennessy Brand Ambassador) to resurrect his family’s rum brand. In 2024, Red Mill moved into it’s current location in White Bay Sydney – an absolutely spectacular WW2 logistics warehouse (complete with HUGE rail-crane for loading things like tanks!) that holds the stills, the maturing casks and a ‘cellar door’ masterclass room for those who visit.

Having visited myself last year it really is an amazing space – one of the most memorable distilleries in Australia. If you find yourself in around White Bay, I highly recommend popping in – you won’t be disappointed!

Our Tasting Notes:

Nose: Rather delicate with light jasmine notes, faint bubble gum, citrus peel with an almost malty quality too. But there’s a surprising hint of salty-iodiney note there as well (similar to the iodine/seaweed note common in peated whisky) which is both surprising, and very different in a rum.

Palate: Wow – this is different to any Red Mill I’ve had previously – much more viscous on the palate. So very gentle too – a very mild warmth is as ‘spicy’ as this gets making it extremely easy to sip neat).  Lots of fruit there – green apples, nice and sweet – which precedes a nutty, malt-biscuit tone becoming dominant.

Finish: The aforementioned malty-biscuit vibe morphs into a delicious nuttiness as the finish takes hold. Peanut brickle vibes with a delicious salty-twang swirl around a healthy pinch of those sea-weedy notes found in the nose.

This is rather a surprising rum – and definitely packs some of the qualities of a good single malt whisky as well! In fact, I guarantee it will stop a ‘whisky drinker’ in their tracks. Those salty / iodiney notes are very distinctive (and extremely rare) in a rum but do a wonderful job at framing the fruity core – as they do in a good peated single malt whisky.  My personal guess is there are more than few red wine staves mixed into those 125l casks giving out those wonderful nutty notes. And the saltiness (which really comes through clearly in the finish) gives it a real ‘maritime aged’ quality. Another super-interesting (in fact I’m going to go full noise and call it unique as well!) rum from this Sydney distillery.

FROM RED MILL

Red Mill was first made on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour in 1933. One of the great labels to come out of the legendary CSR refinery and distillery at Pyrmont. 

First, there was a humble rum label bottled by George Fesq in the back of The Rocks. Then, with the return of servicemen at the end of WWII, Red Mill became a huge fixture of Sydney life, especially around the working foreshore of the western harbour. A local hero for decades before fading away in the early 1980s. 

George Fesq was my great-grandfather, and I started bringing Red Mill back to life in 2020. 

For this special Cascading Cask bottling, we look to the corner of our barrel hall, where we’ve been working on something unique and special for some time. Enthused by the idea of pushing the limits of American white oak casks, we began by filling freshly charred 225L ex-Bourbon casks with predominantly molasses-based distillates in 2021 and 2022. After two years, we transferred some of this aged rum to a series of Quarter Casks (125L, coopered of a melange of staves from various cut-down barrels). Finally, at the start of 2025, we moved some of this rum to 20L toasted white oak casks for its final resting.

These were decanted and bottled for Rum Tribe in October 2025.

The result is intense yet balanced, with a classic vanillin tone and biscuity aroma. The undertones are subtle iodine and char. All together in the Red Mill style, medium bodied, elegant, versatile and delicious. 

Colour: Bright, deep straw, amber hue.

Nose: Redolent of poached quince, dried mango, brulee sugar and high toned oak.

Palate: Rich, velvety entry. dried stone fruit, membrillo and spun sugar topped with fine oak notes with a whiff of caramel butter.

Long, lush and harmonious.

ABOUT RED MILL

Red Mill was once Sydney’s most popular rum. It was first made in 1933 at the legendary CSR distillery on the harbour front in Pyrmont, then bottled by George Fesq to be sold as Fesq’s Red Mill Rum.

George Fesq was my great grandfather, and I decided to restart Red Mill, and restart making Rum, in 2020.

The difference now is we are making the rum ourselves, with a modern style based on a barrel collection that is like no other.

Our home is in the White Bay Steelworks, just a short hop across the harbour from the original distillery.

Get ready for the craziest cask journey ever to accompany an exceptional rum – The 58% powerhouse, single cask, pure single rum – The Karu Outcask Multi-Cask!

Now the ‘Multi-Cask’ is a Rum Tribe exclusive, cask strength, single cask pure single rum and the cask has been on the most extraordinary journey (read on!). To back it up, and for something completely different – the Karu Orsa, a coffee liqueur, who’s maturation process has also contributed to the ‘Multi-Cask’.

So as name suggests – this story is all about a particular cask. A cask that has made its influence felt on several iconic spirits….grab a drink and read on…

Ally and Nick at Karu Distillery are old mates (and OG members!) of the Rum Tribe and we’ve had the pleasure of watching and tasting Karu Distillery grow from its very beginnings tucked up in the Devil’s Wilderness of the Blue Mountains, and we’re not the only ones watching – Karu is absolutely smashing it on the awards scene (both Australian AND International) with all their spirits (they also do gin and vodka products – hence the history of this particular cask) as well as representing NSW in trade shows to overseas markets.

Ally herself has just been awarded the International World Spirits Trophy for emerging talent in the spirits industry. Quite an achievement – and It’s no wonder, as Ally and Nick are constantly moving forward with their product development and maturation program. Once again – the Karu Multi-Cask is a perfect example.  

This incredibly prolific ‘Multi-Cask’ began its life as an ex-Sherry cask that was re-worked by non-other than Master Cooper Andrew Young at Seppeltsfield Winery into one of his trademark blue-edged ‘Super Casks’. This cask was then used by Crafty Field (Craftworks Distillery- Capertee) to mature Craftworks’ very first whisky – ‘Just Derek’. Crafty just happened to drop into Karu (back in 2019) with this particular cask in his ute. He’d only just decanted his first ever single malt whisky from the cask and was interested in re-filling it with Karu’s award-winning Affinity Gin. However, Ally and Nick decided to do a special run of gin for the project and this became their ‘Barrell Aged Gin’ – of which they did 3 maturation runs [due to popular demand] in the ‘Multi-Cask’.

Now they could have sat back and released more of that gin – but resting on their laurels is not the Karu way, and so it was onto new projects for the Multi-Cask. A barrel aged Negroni collaboration was the next to sit in the cask – giving back to the wood as much richness and depth as it took from it. Rick cherry notes (from the cherry ratafia component of the negroni) in particular are notable in the ‘Multi-Cask Rum- from this part of the barrel’s life.  And finally – just prior to filling with Karu Outcask rum – it was seasoned with another of Karu’s award-winning products – their Orsa Coffee Liqueur (which we’ll get to taste as well this month) for a whole year. The product of this ‘Barrel Aged Orsa Liqueur’ is destined for another Karu bottled cocktail colab in a few months’ time (seriously – Nick and Ally are ALWAYS developing new products and collaborations with local businesses and farms).

So this cask has had influences from all manner of past spirits that have resided in its oaken walls for 6 years – it even dodged the 2019 bushfires during that time (pulled out of the distillery and taken back to Nick and Ally’s house for protection from the fires that threatened the distillery). Whisky, gin, cherry vermouth and coffee liqueur have all gone into making the Multi-Cask what it is.  

The last year has seen this cask finishing a special batch of Outcask Specialty Cask Rum – just for US! The ‘Multi-Cask’ is a single cask of Outcask, initially aged for 2 years in a Whipper Snapper ex-bourbon cask, then transferred for another year into the (freshly emptied of Orsa Coffee Liqueur) Multi-Cask.

The Karu Outcask ‘Multi-Cask’ is a single cask offering of which only the Rum Tribe has access! And of course – with such a wonderful pure, single rum – we thought it best to offer it just as it came out of the cask – at 58%abv! This is a sensational rum that is truly unique in its depth, variety and range of flavours – it certainly captivated me from the very first sip of the sample bottle I was sent a few months back. We’re absolutely delighted to be able to offer our members access to something this unique and special, of which I doubt we’ll ever taste again.  

Our Tasting Notes:

Nose: So much to unpack in this nose – it’s simply immense! At first there’s a real ginger-bread vibe but that is soon enveloped by creamy coconut Bounty-bar.

Palate: A big wave of oily pepper at first (it is 58%abv after all – take care on that first sip) but a gingerbread, plumb-pud and bounty-bar combo hits with a triple-POW combo strait after. Waves of fruit salad, vanilla, citrus , cloves, star-anise and all-spice with wafts of floral notes intertwined between them all.  

Finish: Looong and warm (did I mention this was cask strength!) with ginger-spice wrapped around soothing sweet notes, creamy waves and tropical fruit darting in and out of dark chocolate and espresso coffee with a touch of nuttiness in the mix as well.

The Karu Multi-Cask rum is one of the most striking Australian rums I’ve ever tasted. Just so big and round and satisfying on the palate – with nuances and flavour notes to discover each new sip. Look, I’ve got no intention of mixing this one – I’ll be drinking my bottle(s) neat in the delightfully cool afternoons of winter and savouring every nuance and facet of flavour this incredible rum has to offer. It’s a wild ride!

FROM KARU

This expression really started in 2019 or there about, when I was in the depths of learning how to make rum.

Our good friend “Crafty”, a whisky producer out in Capertee (Craftworks) was doing a routine trek back home from his distillery and passed through to say hey. He was naturally excited about a barrel he had in his tray which was his first barrel he ever decanted “Just Derek”, he wanted us to put Affinity Gin (our flagship gin) into it and age it, which i said “no way, it won’t work, however we can make a new gin for it”.

That created the start of this barrel’s journey at our distillery. After our Barrel Aged Gin project ended we then used the barrel for a collaboration cocktail combining our IWSC trophy winning Lightning Gin, Orsa coffee gin liqueur and a house made cherry ratafia from a local restaurant, then after that we aged our Orsa Coffee Liqueur inside for another cocktail collaboration. Now it’s arrived here as a seasoned rum cask. This is exciting because we really just do things on a “why not” basis as opposed to “why do that?” point of view, after all no one has a cask like this, it’s unique to us.

Sitting with this rum is great, I always let aged spirits breathe a little before tasting, it gives a syrupy nose with a hint of caramel and sultana. 

Tasting notes.
Experience a multi layered and complex spirit. Creamy vanilla notes lead, gracefully mingling with a hint of coconut and the bright essence of orchard fruits, all underscored by a delightful golden sweetness. Subtle light cherry and deep chocolate undertones unfold, culminating in a memorable whiskey cask finish.

– Ally

ABOUT KARU

In 2015, Nick and Ally Ayres, driven by a simple question – “If you could do anything for a living, what would it be?”. Inspired by a sip of whisky, Ally envisioned a life crafting spirits. For three years, they immersed themselves in the world of distillation, travelling Australia and beyond to master their craft. This dedication culminated in 2018 with the launch of Karu Distillery and their first spirit Affinity Gin, which quickly sold 300 bottles across Australia through a gin subscription.

From this humble beginning, Karu Distillery rapidly ascended onto the national and global spirits scene. Their mission: to craft traditional spirits for the modern palate, inviting spirit lovers on a journey of flavour and innovation. Ally and Nick’s organic vision, “to create the spirits we enjoy, the way we enjoy them,” fuelled their unparalleled commitment to quality.

In just seven years, Karu Distillery has achieved remarkable milestones. They’ve garnered two “World’s Best” trophies, an innovation award, a “Best Liqueur” trophy in Australia, and over 120 prestigious medals, including an IWSC Trophy, World’s Best, Country’s Best, Double golds and Platinum awards. Ally was crowned ‘2025 Emerging Talent in Spirits’ at the recent IWSC awards in London.  This recognition serves as a testament to their unwavering dedication to quality, solidifying Karu as a trusted brand worldwide. Their goal is to build an authentic, modern heritage brand, a legacy of Australian quality for generations to come.