Brodie Lathby-Cook: Scenestr of the day
03/03/2022Ruby Dodwell: Scenestr of the day
05/25/2022Ahead of Locally Sauced’s sophomore event High Spirits on Saturday May 28, we had a chat with Codie Palmer of Illegal Tender Co. – the distillery of choice for round 2. As the managing director of this spirit enterprise, Codie has been interested in distilling since he was 15. Now he has perfected his recipes – crafting, brewing and distilling a whole range of heavenly spirits. Read his story below and find out why you should snag some tickets for High Spirits on May 28…
Hey Codie! Thanks for chatting with us today. We can’t wait to host you and the Illegal Tender team for High Spirits on May 28. Let’s start by you telling us a bit about yourself and how you got into the distilling industry?
Great to be here!
I’ve actually been distilling on and off since I was 15 years old (more than half my life) . I was shown the artform by a chef in the Pilbara where I was working as a kitchen hand through high school. I was mesmerized by the fact that you could make your own spirits with a little bit of hard work, a lot of knowledge and by being very safety conscious.
I soon began exploring the artform myself and before I knew it my entire house was full of hobby brewing and distillation equipment before my now wife suggested that if I was this obsessed with distilling, perhaps I should try it commercially and turn it into a profession.
3 months later, I Quit my very comfortable day job as an instrumentation electrician at a power station, sold my house, car and toys and built what is now Illegal Tender Rum Co in Dongara, WA in 2015 and since then we have amassed 22 world spirit awards and I have never looked back.
Tell us about the two products that will be on offer at the High Spirits event…
The Illegal Tender Rum Co Bushtucker Spiced and the Stableviews Abrolhos Gin are two products that I am super proud of. Not only are they both 100% Sugar Free & Gluten Free, they both have a couple of interesting facts to go with them!
The Bushtucker Spiced is actually NATA certified sugar free. Instead of colouring the spirit with caramels and sugars and then adding artificial flavours and sweeteners to it, I mature the spirit in southwest french oak wine casks for a natural colour and then add 20 distilled essential oils to the product – 5 of which are native ingredients. (Kakadu Plum, Lemon Myrtle, Wild Rosella (Hibiscus), Wattleseed and Quandong. These have been balanced with great care so as to not have one spice overpower the other – it is recipe #328!
The Abrolhos Gin was originally a collaboration product that, once released, completely exploded in popularity and we soon made it a core range offering. It is brewed in house and then double distilled with the following botanicals in a vapour infusion basket;
– Juniper, Cassia Quill, Coriander Seed, Licorice Root, Clove, Angelica Root, Green Cardamom Pod & Citrus Zest.
Once the final distillate has been distilled, I take some of the flavour resin from the bottom of the vapour basket that is Yellow and I then Steep Abrolhos Island Native botanicals, Beaded Samphire and Grey Saltbush into the spirit for 48 hours.
Yellow + Green = Blue!
It is coloured naturally and is 100% Sugar Free also.
We are extremely proud of the fact that we make all of our Spirits in house as a majority of distilleries simply buy in their base spirit and flavour it for commercial viability.
Which one’s your personal favourite? (We know, it’s cruel to make you choose!)
I have to say, as the Spiced was my first ever commercial product and given that it has taken me literally 328 individual attempts to produce a perfect spirit it would definitely be that product. I love the Abrolhos Gin because I am quite proud of the way I decided to flavour and colour it naturally instead of artificially but the Spiced is my first “Child”.
Tell us a bit about the process of how you make your rum. We heard your rum is actually the only rum in the world with no added sugar… is that correct?
Most commercially available Rum have sugars or caramels added to the final product to make it more palatable. It is a good way to mask undesirable flavours or substandard quality. Many Rums can be anywhere up to 40% or more in Sugar!! This is something that I wholeheartedly believe should not be happening. It is always one of the primary reasons cheap rum is mistaken for bad hangovers!
Every single product we produce is 100% sugar free. I make sure this is the case for all products that leave our premise. Why add sugar when you can distill it to a high quality product instead?
We make all of our Rum in house, on premise right here in Dongara using nothing but Rainwater and Either Dark Brown Sugar or high grade molasses to brew with.
The fermentables are brewed and fermented into our delicious base “Distillers Beer” where the Sugars are converted into alcohol and then it is double distilled using our commercial 4 plate column still we call “The Beast”.
The final product dictates what happens to it after it’s distillation, The Spiced being matured for colour and then the 20 essential oils are added. Our Super-Premium Rum the Distillers Cut is literally matured in oak casks for a minimum of 2 years and then proofed with rainwater and nothing else.
With 22 World Spirit awards including 3 x World’s Best Trophies at the World Rum Awards we are proof that if you don’t cut corners the quality speaks for itself.
And what about your relationship with the Stableviews Distillery? How did that come about?
In 2020, after winning our First World’s Best Rum Title. I was lost, where do you go from there as a distiller?
I decided to try other spirits so “Stableviews Distillery” was born.
Stableviews is the name of the farm that we are located on and it is a homage to our family history here.
We currently produce an Australian Dry Gin and the Abrolhos Gin under this namesake.
What do you think makes your products unique and why should people drink them?
Besides the plethora of Awards our products have now won, proving their quality. Our products are produced because of a passion and not to get rich. I do it because it is what I love to do, and I love to do it responsibly
Our entire ethos is around supporting local and maintaining our 100% Australian owned and made identity.
Our suppliers are all Australian owned, we sponsor as many local charities and sporting clubs as we are able to afford to do so.
Our products are as unique as they come, in a world full of just another Rum or Gin we stand out from those molds. We were one of the first distilleries in Australia to use Australian Natives in our Spiced and we continue to experiment with the delicious products we find right here on our doorstep.
Unique is our very core.
Thanks heaps for your time today, Codie! Anything else you’d like to add?
Illegal Tender Rum Co has been around since 2015.
I quit my day job to pursue a passion that I had.
It was the hardest 4 years of my life at the beginning, learning to run a business and trying to sell our local products into a crowded marketspace where the consumers are grossly misled in almost every aspect – from misguided provenance claims to what is actually in the product!
We are here to buck that trend, to be a brand that people can trust and be confident in the fact that we have their experience and health at the forefront of our minds.
Choosing Local is not just an overused term, it is something that will see many people in local towns/regions like ours with employment. It provides funding and stimulates the local communities economy meaning all are able to prosper.
Without people supporting local, many things fade into obscurity or disappear entirely with proceeds ending up overseas in a majority of cases.
Eat Local
Drink Local
Shop Local
If your local doesn’t have our products, you need only ask!
#SupportAustralianCraftSpirits