It’s no secret rum has a reputation as the drink of choice for a certain demographic, with its rich and robust flavour profile often deliciously canned and spiked with coke. For South-Murwillumbah-based rum makers Chanel Melani and Sally Carter, it was this exact reputation they wanted to reframe with the launch of Birds of Isle.

“We’re on a mission to change the narrative surrounding rum, positioning it as the ambitious and elegant spirit we created,” says Chanel Melani, co-founder of Birds of Isle. “Rum could be our national spirit. The northeastern coastline of Australia is full of sugarcane, so we’ve decided to embrace it in a complex and thoughtful way that we think could change people’s minds about rum.”

With this latest launch, Birds of Isle has updated its highly celebrated rum recipe by soaking the booze in roasted native bunya nuts and fire-charred bunya nut shells. Hand-foraged from prehistoric Bunya Pine trees found in Bundjalung Country, the Birds of Isle team worked closely with an Indigenous chef and cultural advisor to learn about this ingredient from the Indigenous community first-hand. The collaboration has produced a considered representation of this native botanical, injecting a sense of terroir to the rum as well as subtle notes of chestnut and pinewood.

Beyond its considered approach to rum, the distillery also looks to do things differently during production. Sugarcane waste pulp is used to create the rum’s labels, upcycled packing materials are opted for in its cases and the team sources custom curbside recyclable boxes for online orders.

Best served over ice with tonic and an orange peel twist, Bunya Nut Rum is now available via the Birds of Isle website, in addition to select locations in the Northern Rivers.