Spirits high as Beenleigh Rum Distillery launches flood support while Big Red Shed dries out

Australia’s oldest rum distillery is keeping flood victims’ spirits high with donations while it dries out its historic machines and buildings.

Australia’s oldest rum distillery is drying out – literally after this month’s devastating floods washed through its historic buildings, wrecking some of its age-old machinery.

Production has temporarily stopped at the historic Beenleigh Artisan Rum Distillery, which was swamped when the Albert River hit 7.4m, bursting its banks and swelling through the distillery.

Beenleigh Artisan Rum Distillery's iconic Big Red Shed was flooded when the Albert River broke its banks in March 2022.

Beenleigh Artisan Distillers manager Adam Fagg said even though the iconic Big Red Shed went under and some of the machinery was broken, the distillery’s spirits were not dulled.

Management was so buoyed by the community’s help and staff staying onsite overnight to ensure the fermenting process was not disrupted, it decided to roll out the barrels and donate money to support other flood victims.

The distillery’s visitor centre, which survived the flood, is being used to sell bottles of rum with $5 from each sale this month going to the Queensland Flood Appeal to support the clean-up efforts which are likely to take months.

Beenleigh Artisan Rum Distillery's iconic Big Red Shed was flooded when the Albert River broke its banks in March 2022

“We want to show our support for the incredible people helping with the Queensland Flood Appeal who have worked tirelessly to save locals, their homes and their businesses during the terrible events of the last weeks,” he said.

“Beenleigh knows, after already being impacted by the floods in 2017, that after the rains stop the clean up will still continue for many months, and that the battle is far from over.

“Seeing our Big Red Shed go under was heartbreaking and we’re so thankful for the incredible work of those around us and we wanted to find a way to give back and aid the clean-up efforts.”

Floods are nothing new at the distillery, which has stood on the banks of the river since 1884 and had its largest flooding in 1887 and 1974.

Beenleigh Artisan Rum Distillery was flooded when the Albert River broke its banks in March 2022

But the popular distillery is unlikely to repeat its award-winning “flood rum” special fermented after the last flood disaster hit in 2017.

The 2017 “Flood Rum” was created when the Albert River waters rose so quickly the distillery’s pumps stopped working, halting a special rum process and trapping the fermented brew in tanks for six months.

After the machinery was repaired, experienced distiller Wayne Stewart bottled the spirit by hand to create a unique 46 per cent alcohol rum with no additives.

It sold out and the distillery won a prestigious Masters Gold Medal in the Spirit Business International Awards that year.