ST MARY’S Wines is putting Penola on the map for more than just its wine, now being internationally recognised for their ‘rum’arkable spirits.
Mulligan’s Rum has been named best in class in the International Sugar Cane Spirit class of the International Column Still Rum category at the American Distillers Institute International Spirits Competition Awards.
They also won a silver in the same category.
It’s a relatively new venture for winemaker and distiller Ian Mulligan, who has been making spirits for less than a decade.
““It was a new area for us,” he said.
“We’ve been sort of doing the distillation thing, probably about eight years, and the wine side of things since 1990.
“I, many years ago, was working over in the states and working in the Bay Area, and I’d worked in a winery during the week and on the weekends to get a bit extra cash, I worked in the distillery.
“I was over there for about two and a half years, and when I got back, I wanted to get into it, but it just wasn’t the right time.
“Then, about eight years ago, things just sort of happened at the property that we could do it.
“We had a look, we did our research, had a look at what sort of stills we wanted, what sort of products we wanted to make.”
Mr Mulligan said getting to just the right combination of flavours took some time and some experimentation.
“We use sugar cane – we had a go with molasses, but it wasn’t an individual enough of a product for us to go with, so we went with the sugar cane,’ he said.
“We use some new American oak which is made here in Adelaide and it just came up.
“It was one of those little experiments that seemed to work.”
While they couldn’t give away the trade secrets, Mr Mulligan said that like wine, time is important for rum.
“The good thing with rum that we found out, and we sort of knew that with wine, is time helped.
“So the more time that it spends in the barrel, the better.
“That’s actually been about two and a half years, so there was a dramatic increase in development of flavours and colour extraction and aromatics.
“We’ve got some of that batch sitting in the barrel for a longer period of time, so that’s progressing as well.”
Rum is just one of the offerings from St Marys, which is known for its wine, but they also have flavoured vodkas and gin on offer.
The cellar door is open every day from 10am to 4pm, and has a large show garden to admire.
