It’s the Brekkie Creek, but not as you know it. This iconic old pub has made good use of the old electricity substation out the front, by giving it a classy makeover and filling it to the rafters with rum. Bypass the drunken riff-raff in the beer garden and head straight for the cosy little nautical-themed enclave.
The bar is a marvel with heritage brick walls and a beautiful 12-metre long slab of iron bark, but even more beautiful is what lies beyond that gleaming polished timber. There are more than 400 different types of rum on offer here – literally a wall of bottles so high it requires a ladder – and a large map of the rum world providing a guide to their origins.
They’ve got a few tasty little house-spiced drops on offer, such as a fragrant gingerbread Mount Gay number – easy drinking on the rocks or with a dash of ginger beer. Bundaberg Rum gets a smartening up, served off the wood in a French Oak Barrel alongside rare and exotic rums from further afield. The list traverses the British and French Caribbean, Spain, Dominican Republic, Canary Islands, Pacific Islands and the Americas.
You can regard this as an educational experience since there’s a wealth of rum-related facts that go beyond the usual white and dark categories – there’s also gold, spiced, agricol and cachaca rum (pronounced ‘ka-sha-sah’, it’s made from fresh sugarcane as opposed to molasses) and, before rum was called rum, it was also known as ‘kill devil’, ‘Barbados water’, ‘Nelson’s blood’ and ‘pirate drink’.
If it’s going to be an intensive lesson in rum, it’s probably a good idea to consult the food menu as well. The rum bar might be new, but the food on offer is the same meaty pub fare for which the Brekkie Creek has been renowned for nigh on 125 years. Sure you can buck tradition and go with the sticky BBQ pork ribs, or panko-crumbed calamari with lime aioli, but it’s really all about the steak here. There’s every size and cut imaginable, from a petite eye fillet, through to rib on the bone hefty enough to sink a pirate ship.
