Spirited alliance secures award

Partnership’s neat win

A SPIRITED collaboration between Devils Thumb Distillery and Far Northern Milling has culminated in an accolade for Best Cane Spirit (sugarcane juice) at the inaugural 2022 Australian Rum Awards held in Brisbane this month.

Already known for its internationally prized gin, Devils Thumb Distillery’s simultaneous focus on quality rum production founded a partnership with Far Northern Milling (Mossman Mill) and culminated in the winning cane spirit.

Devils Thumb’s proximity to the raw ingredient of sugar cane juice gives Australian Cane Spirit a distinctive quality and means Far North Queensland is uniquely placed to produce cane spirit which in other countries is known as Agricole (Martinique) or Cachaça (South America).

Devils Thumb co-founder and head distiller Mark Norman said the cane spirit was made by fermenting and distilling sugar cane juice which is then bottled and sold as unaged spirit or put into barrels for further ageing.

According to Mr Norman, Peter Dibella from Far Northern Milling has been instrumental in providing access to all the raw ingredients comprising Devils Thumb’s cane spirit.

“Far Northern Milling has been an iconic business in the Mossman region since 1894 however Devils Thumbs Distillery is the first distillery to produce rum from cane juice in the history of the mill,” Mr Norman said.

Mr Dibella congratulated Devils thumb on a first.

“Seeing the natural, first expressed sugar cane juice converted to a high value product in our local region is something we can all be proud off,” Mr Dibella said.

“We look forward to a longterm relationship with Devils Thumb Distillery and look forward to seeing them develop and market more high value products,” Mr Dibella said.

According to Mr Norman, the best way to drink cane spirit is to pour 30mls of Devils Thumb Distillery cane spirit on ice, top with ginger beer with a final twist of squeezed lime.

“I initially made this product for my own consumption then quickly worked out there was a niche market for it and being able to source the ingredients so close within the region makes it a really exceptional product to make.”