By Laura Rancie.
When we previously met with Quentin Brival, head distiller at HUSK we talked all about his dreamy island childhood in the Caribbean paradise of Martinique. His is a rare gift of passion and curiosity that has led to innovation and industry in a field that was almost previously ignored in Australia - the art and science of rum making.
Home to vast fields of sugar cane, sprawling our eastern coastline, Australia’s rum culture was lacking. That is, until Paul Messenger, founder of HUSK met Quentin. Together the pair have completely revolutionised the way gin and rum are experienced in Australia and are doing for rum, what has been done with wine for centuries.
Read on as we celebrate the artistry behind the making of spirits, in this final installation of our Quentil Brival series:
It's not all about rum on the farm, you also have a very unique gin, made right there in northern NSW that is multi-award winning. Almost mystical sounding, Ink’s dry gin has three tiers and incorporates 13 botanicals, using Australian natives. I have so many questions around this?
Quentin: "I would probably talk about food, you know. How does a Chef know what ingredient inventions to put together to create a beautiful dish? It’s a bit the same. It starts with a bit of an idea, a concept. For example, a gin that we released this week is called Ink Bitter Orange Gin. My idea there was to play with the orange and then you think, orange…hmm…okay. Everybody loves orange. It's a very popular citrus flavour.
I wanted something a little bit different, a little bit special. So then I went to look at all the different varieties of orange and there's one called the Bitter Orange."
"It tastes a bit different with complex flavours that sometimes are a bit challenging to work with. I saw the potential to create something different. So you start with that and you try to taste it, smell it and imagine all the flavours that could complement it.
In this instance, I thought of chamomile flowers. They go really well with citrus and help with the mouth feel of your products, which helps with the palate structure of that gin. Something else that goes well with orange is aniseed, I used aniseed myrtle.
Australia is so unique in that nowhere else in the world do people have access to so many distinctive flavours that are just there and ready to be found and used so we incorporate those native Australian botanicals in our gin."
Quentin, what is a typical day for a rum distiller like? Are you out on the farm? Are you out in the fields? Are you wearing a white lab coat in a science lab somewhere?
"We are still more or less a medium-sized business and people tend to wear many hats. But that's probably what I like about the job. It's not boring. There's not one day that looks like the previous one.
For example, this morning we were making a bit of rum, so started the steel for the distillation. I have done a few interviews already this morning, but this afternoon I might go into the paddock and have a look at the sugar cane that is almost ready to be harvested. I’ll likely come back this afternoon and do tastings of some aged rum then end the day with emails.
The beauty of this industry is that there are so many different aspects to it that make it great."
The 150 acre family farm, at dawn.
What was that moment like that brought it all together when you first met Paul, who I imagine would be quite similar to you? What was it like meeting someone who understood you and met your level of enthusiasm for spirits?
Quentin: "Maybe there was a bit of luck because I first heard about what he (Paul Messenger) was doing in a French magazine called Rumporter. The magazine was as curious as me because they had heard of someone on the other side of the world pioneering rum that you only see in the French Caribbean.
The magazine had thought, well, this is really cool and we need to talk to that man all the way over in Australia. When I read the article, I thought, I need to meet him!
Luckily, he was looking for someone to assist him in production while he was entering the second phase of the business. I lived in Perth back then and flew over for the weekend, I remember arriving at the farm and just sitting in on a very casual sort of interview.
Because it had all happened so quickly when we first sat down and started talking, doubt crept in and the only thing in the back of my mind was, am I joining someone who knows what he's talking about and am I joining someone who's got the same vision that I have?
I realised I still hadn't tried a single product that Paul had started to make. So before the interview went even further, I asked, do you mind if I test your rum?
He brought me a glass, I smelled it and from just on the nose, I could pick all these lively sugar cane notes that are characteristic of the sort of rum we would make in Martinique. Even before tasting it, I was like…that's it! We share the same vision and that's how I fell in love with the start of rum."
Founder/CEO Paul Messenger with Quentin Brival.
Quentin, We are really looking forward to following your career and seeing what other fantastic combinations you come up with.
"Thank you! Everybody is always welcome to come here to HUSK to look at how we do things and enjoy drinks, enjoy a bit of food, and pair rum with food. We are only 20 minutes away from the Gold Coast Airport."
In case you missed it, in part one of our series we explored Quentin's Caribbean culture and the influences he brought with him that affected how he felt about rum. In part two, we explored the difference between rum and rhum agricole and the native botanicals' influence on the final taste.
We hope you enjoyed our special series with head distiller Quentil Brival from Husk Distillery.
