Food & Drinking Culture

What is a Bundy & Coke? The most famous drink made with this rum is little more than rum and cola in a tall glass, sometimes with a wedge of lime. The cola amplifies the rum's sweet caramel and vanilla notes, while the lime adds a touch of acidity against it. When mixing at home, pour the cola slowly down the side of the glass so it doesn't foam up too much and keeps its fizz longer.

You'll find it in pubs just as often as at a backyard barbecue—the "barbie" of everyday Australian life. Grilled beef and prawns pair well with the sweetness of rum and cola, especially with a slightly sweet marinade, since the carbonation cuts through the fat. The drink is also sold in Australia as a ready-made canned mix, a sign of just how firmly it's embedded in daily life.

For dessert, the lamington fits well—a sponge cake cube coated in chocolate icing and rolled in desiccated coconut, considered an Australian classic. According to tradition, it's named after Lord Lamington, who served as Governor of Queensland from 1896 to 1901. Chocolate and coconut sit close to the rum's caramel notes.

Bundaberg and the surrounding area are known as fruit and vegetable country: sweet potatoes and macadamia nuts grow there. Oven-warm sweet potato with brown sugar, or roasted macadamias, pick up on the rum's molasses notes nicely. For a lighter drink with less sugar, try soda water with lime or a bitter ginger ale; as a rule of thumb, use one part rum to three or four parts mixer.

The region's history is also tied to the story of the cane fields: descendants of the South Sea Islanders still live in Queensland today, and in Australia this group is known as "Australian South Sea Islanders." Visitors to the area can find a distillery visitor center in Bundaberg East, offering tours of the site.