Prince Charles takes a bottle of Bundy home

It's been an exciting day for staff at the Bundaberg Rum Distillery, with Prince Charles touring the distillery before attending ‘The Big Bundy BBQ’.

He was taken through a tasting in the Bundy Barrel House, tasting one of five options presented to him and declaring he could detect "fruit cake'' overtones.

As His Royal Highness sat with Bundy Chair Kylie McPherson (above), he created his own version of Queensland's favourite tipple to take home to Buckingham Palace. 

After visiting the Bundaberg Rum Distillery, His Royal Highness met with locals involved in disaster recovery and environmental protection in the Wide Bay region.

In an unexpected but well received speech, Prince Charles saluted the "wonderful" people of Bundaberg for their strength in the face recent natural disasters.

“It’s either for the rum or for something else, I’m not sure, but I certainly after being here in 1994 and having tasted the Bundaberg Rum, it has taken me I’m afraid all those years to come back for another tot.

“And I’m thrilled this distillery is still producing some of the special, most famous rums around the world.

“I realise you’ve all been through some difficult and painful times since I was last here, and you’ve all had the most awful experiences of floods and goodness knows what else, and I just wanted to say, apart from the fact I feel nothing but the greatest possible sympathy for all of you who have suffered in so many ways or had property that has been damaged, I do hope that there has been a chance to recover and to become gradually more resilient against these problems and natural disasters.

“I also wanted to pay particular tribute to the people in the emergency services and the volunteer organisations who clearly make a huge difference in making sure people recover from these awful disasters.

“But I do know the Australian spirit and character is such that you are unbelievably resilient and somehow you manage regardless of what happens and that is one of the great characteristics that I have always admired ever since I first came her 52 years ago. Don’t change, and you’re just as wonderful.”

Special planning for Royal visit

Bundaberg Rum visitor experience manager Duncan Littler worked with Clarence House in London and Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to create an enjoyable day for the Prince.

"It's a totally different event from what we have held before," Littler told News Mail.

Littler was proud to show Prince Charles the "green" side of rum making.

"We know he is fond of the environment and we want to show him the green credentials we have here at the distillery," Littler said.

"We believe it is our responsibility to minimise the impact that our operations and products have on the environment and to actively work to protect the resources that our business and our communities need, including across our supply chain."

Green technology at the distillery includes the treatment of waste water and carbon emissions. Littler noted that 100% of the waste water generated from the manufacturing of Bundaberg Rum was treated and returned via irrigation to the region's sugar cane crops.

"The amount of water we use to make one litre of product has reduced from 2.1 litres to 1.3 litres in the last 10 years," Littler said.

The distillery focused on reducing the carbon footprint to deliver a low-carbon future.

"We exceeded our 2020 global target of a 50% reduction in direct carbon emissions by achieving a reduction of 67 per cent against our 2007 baseline," he explained.

"One hundred per cent green steam is used for our distillation process, reducing our carbon emissions significantly.

"It's sourced from the Milliquin Sugar mill who generate the steam primarily from bagasse, which is the dry residue left after the sugar is extracted from the sugar cane."