To me rum is one of the best bargains in the liquor store. When you get into the sipping category of spirits, a good rum can be had for a couple sawbucks, try that with scotch!
Bundaberg Rum is reputed to be one of the best, so I was excited to see that we’d be able to stop there on our Australia east coast ride. 

They have two tour options, a self-guided walk (AU$14.25/US$10.50) through their museum and another that’s guided (AU$23.75/US$17.50) and includes the actual distillery. They both end up in the tasting room to sample the spirit. 

I had planned on blasting directly to the tastings but the self-guided part was interesting. The distillery started operation in 1888, it resurrected after a liquidation in 1894 and devastating fires in 1907 and 1936. But enough of that, on to be tasting room. With either tour you get a couple of tastings. Since she was the designated driver, Cindy passed her tastings on to me. Plus they will split them, so I ended up with eight half pours of straight rum. (Their tasting notes recommend adding a single ice cube to rum served neat, but I declined that frivolous addition.)

I tasted almost all their unflavored rums from the Original two year old to the Master Distillers Collection Black Barrel which rests for ten years before being sold in their company store for AU$180 (US$133) a bottle. The extra eight years does the job, the Masters was great! While I drained all the better pours, I left some of the rawer tastes as they’re better suited to flavoring cola than drinking neat. With a nice taste in my mouth I settled in the car for a nap while Cindy drive us to the Alpaca farm that was our our next overnight stop.