Husk’s Head Distiller Quentin Brival creates

By Sarah Waters

When Quentin Brival, 32, arrived in Australia nine years ago, he was looking for a rum with vibrancy and freshness that reminded him of his home in Martinique, but he couldn’t fnd it.

Quentin grew up in a culture associated with rum.

Martinique is a small French-speaking Caribbean Island that produces some of the world’s best Rhum Agricole (agricultural rum made from sugarcane juice).

The sight of farm workers harvesting sugarcane for rum distilleries dotted along the 80km Island was part of Quentin’s life.

As was, the taste and smell of rum.

No matter where the former system engineer’s travels would take him in the world, when he found Agricole rum it would ‘link’ him back to his home in the Caribbean.

“We have a real appreciation of rum and a very rich culture around it in Martinique,” Quentin said.

“We don’t drink it to get drunk, but instead we get together, savour the favour, and share good times.

“I left the Caribbean with that in mind, I never really thought ‘I’m going to make rum’ - it was just part of who you are,” he said.

Quentin lived and worked in many countries across the world, including France, Spain, Canada, India and China, before he settled in Perth. Wherever he went, he could usually fnd a good Agricole rum.

But Australia didn’t have what he was looking for.

“Australia does have a rich history around rum, but it has been dominated mainly by a few big brands,” Quentin said.

“There wasn’t a rum that I liked, and it felt like I had lost that link to home.”

Quentin decided he would make his own Agricole rum. He brought some sugarcane, planted it in is backyard and thought about how he could make a good rum similar to what he enjoyed so much in Martinique.

As there were no real training facilities on how to become a distiller of fne spirits, Quentin instead asked questions at local distilleries and drew heavily on his background.

“I was born in a nation that perfected that craft (of making rum) over many centuries, so I had a very clear idea of what an excellent rum tasted like,” he said.

“My engineering background helped a lot, because I believe distillation is a mix of art and science.

“There are clear principals you have to follow in order to make alcohol and chemical reactions you need to understand.

“But then you might follow processes exactly to the measure and the outcome is not exactly what you wanted, so there is a bit of that