Raising Glasses Return of the Yowie 18 Year Old Rum

Raising Glasses Return of the Yowie 18 Year Old Rum is an 18 year old single cask Australian rum from Raising Glasses, the American independent bottler run by Lorri and John, a husband-and-wife team of longtime Scotch collectors who select their own casks and bottle them in 375mL under their own label. Return of the Yowie — number 22 in their Folklore Series — is the bottler's third cask from Beenleigh Artisan Distillers in Eagleby, Queensland, after the original Yowie and The Yowie Strikes Back: the same cask lineage given one further year. Distilled in 2006 from molasses on a pot still, it comes from Beenleigh's pre-2010 era, when the distillery still fermented with an indigenous Schizosaccharomyces pombe yeast — slow and low-yielding, but throwing an unusual wealth of flavor compounds, which is why these old Beenleigh casks have become collector items. It aged eighteen years, most of that time in the Queensland heat before the cask moved to the UK, and was bottled in 2025 at cask strength, 68.1% ABV, with no sugar, coloring or additives, from a very small outturn of 52 bottles in a 375mL bottle. Five percent of profits go to North Queensland Animal Rescue. It is available to order online at Del Mesa Liquor.

• Proof / ABV: 68.1% ABV, cask strength
• Size: 375mL
• Age: 18 years (distilled 2006)
• Distillery: Beenleigh Artisan Distillers, Eagleby, Queensland — molasses, pot still, pre-2010 S. pombe yeast
• Outturn: 52 bottles, single cask, bottled 2025
• Series: Folklore Series #22
• Origin: Australia

The Yowie Returns — One Year Older, Still a Beast

The Yowie is Australia's Bigfoot, and Raising Glasses' Beenleigh casks have tracked one extraordinary 2006 vintage across three releases. The bottler describes Return of the Yowie as Yowie Strikes Back with an additional year of aging: the pre-2010 S. pombe yeast's trademark floral eucalyptus and apricot, refined by new flavors of wild honey, white pepper and a dry matchstick finish. At 52 bottles, it is among the smallest outturns in the Folklore Series. Hunt more single-cask rarities in our rum collection and on the rare and top shelf shelves.

Tasting Notes

Floral eucalyptus and apricot over molasses funk — the S. pombe signature — with wild honey, white pepper and a dry matchstick finish; the earlier 16-year Yowie from the same vintage was described by the bottler as herbally potent and elegant, and the extra years have refined rather than tamed it.

How to Enjoy

At 68.1% ABV, pour a small measure and add water in drops — the eucalyptus and apricot open in stages as the strength falls. The 375mL format keeps a 52-bottle cask within reach. More from this bottler lives across our spirits range.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes the Yowie casks special?
They were distilled in 2006 at Beenleigh, when the distillery still used its indigenous Schizosaccharomyces pombe yeast — discontinued in 2010 — whose slow, low-yielding fermentation produced an unusual wealth of flavor compounds, including the trademark eucalyptus and apricot notes.

How strong is it and how many bottles exist?
Cask strength at 68.1% ABV, in a 375mL bottle — a single cask of just 52 bottles, bottled in 2025.

Is this the same as Yowie Strikes Back?
It is the same Beenleigh cask lineage with one additional year of aging — eighteen years against the Strikes Back's seventeen — bottled as Folklore Series #22.

Find Raising Glasses Return of the Yowie at Del Mesa Liquor in San Diego, CA — 52 bottles is all there will ever be.