In the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, a former journalist has stepped into the world of distilling, handcrafting a range of spirits using local sugarcane molasses. Keira Joyce spoke with Soltera Rum founder, Keri Algar, about starting up her own business with a tropical rum bar dream.
While many people may dream of owning an island rum bar and living the tropical lifestyle, Soltera Rum founder, Keri Algar, decided to take the first step towards that goal – starting up a craft spirits business and learning the details of the rum trade for herself.
The biodiversity and subtropical climate of her home in the Tweed Valley region of New South Wales, an area which has been growing sugarcane since the 1860s, offered the ideal location to develop her skills.
“Most of my life I’ve had this dream of owning a tropical rum bar, and I’m sure a lot of people feel the same way,” says Algar.
“One day I was looking at doing something different, and thinking about a change of career, when I realised I lived in an area that had sugarcane growing in the hinterland, and I knew that this was the base ingredient for rum.
“I had a background in journalism, so it was a completely different type of work, but I have an inquisitive nature and strong research skills, so I just decided to go for it,” she says.
After researching the rum production process, what was available in the local market, and Australian regulations for manufacturing alcohol, Algar was on her way. Starting out with a 20-litre fermenter and still, she bought some molasses from a local sugar mill and started experimenting.
“I’d never done anything like this before in my life, and decided to start distilling to work out whether it was something that I could see myself doing more permanently,” says Algar.
“I found that I actually really enjoyed the manual labour aspect of the process, having come from work that required me to be in front of a computer screen all day. It was a nice change to be producing something physical, and having that hands-on approach.
“I operate out of my property at home, and it's still a really small operation. I manage every aspect of the fermentation, the distillation, the business administration, the marketing – everything,” she says.
Development process
Even after several years of production, Algar says she’s still learning.
“I experimented for a couple of years to figure out my process, and decided to produce more conservative style rums to suit regional tastes, with a traditional copper pot still I got custom-made in Western Australia,” she says.
“There are three major phases in producing rum. First is fermentation, which is where most of the flavours are being created, and a really fundamental part of rum making. Then the distillation process involves separating different types of alcohols and different flavour profiles, and then maturation is another form altogether of changing the flavour of the spirit. They're all completely different processes and require as much attention as each other.”
“I'm still developing my aged rums, trying different barrels and looking at different small blends as well as single cask releases. They're constantly changing – in a handcrafted process, there's always a little bit of variation from batch to batch,” says Algar.
As a fermented sugarcane spirit must be matured for more than two years before it can be called rum in Australia, Soltera’s line-up currently includes two cane spirits, Blanco and Oro, and Northern Rivers Rum.
Blanco is a lightly spiced unaged spirit, with a balanced and consistent profile that is suitable for cocktails, while Oro was barrel-aged for almost two years, to develop a richer flavour. The Northern Rivers Rum is Algar’s most recent release, a Special Cask expression aged for over three years in a 115-litre American oak ex-bourbon cask.
“I just released my first batch of the Northern Rivers Rum about three months ago. There’s going to be a bit of variation from batch to batch, because it will have matured in different barrels. I think of that as a truly handcrafted product, part of the charm of an artisanal spirit,” she says.
Local-focused rebrand
Soltera Rum introduced new packaging across its entire range in July, which Algar said was a big decision to make just a few years into business, but she wanted to make sure the products would appeal to her whole target market.
“The original branding was really unique and stood out, but was very feminine, so I wanted to appeal to a broader target market,” she says.
“Rum is interesting, appreciated by a wide demographic spanning regional Queenslanders to people who live in the Melbourne CBD. So instead of trying to focus on a specific market, I wanted Soltera’s branding to tell the story of where the rum is made.
“I live in Cabarita Beach in northern New South Wales, and use molasses from the sugarcane grown locally in the Tweed Valley, which is one of the most biodiverse regions in Australia. I think that is what lends my products their real trademark flavour, which is a lot of floral notes, a lot of depth, and a lot of character,” says Algar.
The packaging redesign was done by Studio Guild, creating labels featuring bespoke illustrations, including imagery of pandanus from Cabarita Beach, along with banksia and wattle. The unique label shape was designed for functionality, to simplify the bottling process.
“I'm hands on with all aspects of the business, which also means bottling and labelling, and one of my least favourite jobs is applying labels to a bottle. It was a really labour-intensive process previously, and the new labels have significantly reduced my bottling time, so I’m stoked with that,” she says.
“You don't think about things like labelling when you first start out, you only realise what works and what doesn't once you get underway.
“Business becomes a little bit easier as you learn through your mistakes – cleaning up the inefficiencies, streamlining operations, and making changes to make life easier.”
Looking ahead
In the past year, the business and the company overall have experienced 100 per cent growth, and Algar is committed to balancing profit with purpose, with the business donating one per cent of sales revenue to various charities.
Soltera Rum is stocked on Paramount Marketplace and ALM Connect, so it's available at all the major distributors in Australia, but she prefers to promote locally.
“All my products are really tied to the area, made from ingredients that resonate with the locals,” says Algar.
“I want to solidify the sales channels that I already have and keep my existing customers happy by maintaining the level of quality and service, and pricing as well.
“Looking forward, I’d like to continue building the business, and that will mean focusing more on sales and distribution,” Algar says. “Sales is something I'm definitely ready to invest in to pick up more regular customers, especially in wholesale channels.”
As Soltera Rum continues to scale, the business is setting itself apart in the Australian market by staying in touch with its local roots.
This article first appeared in the August/September 2025 edition of Food & Drink Business magazine.
