Owner and head distiller
With four decades of experience, Adam Chapman brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to create a unique new brand of rum with a very personal story.
meet the man behind the rum
Adam is Head distiller at CAVU Distilling. This distillery is home to Sunshine and Sons makers of Original Dry Gin and Original Dry Vodka and Nil Desperandum Rums. In 2019 Adam designed this distillery and all the custom-made equipment to suit the style of spirits to be made on site at CAVU Distilling, in a very high WHS standards for hazardous areas and compliance.
award winning distilling
Adam also designed the 2 Tasmanian copper pots stills, 6000 lt still and 2500 lt spirit still. Adam’s passion and expertise is Rum, and Rums with body and also Rums with ester content. Adam makes Rums with Wild yeast, and wild bacteria, cane vinegar and a muck with for creating fatty acids for ester production.
A few of Adam's recent medal wins:
- World’s Best Botanical Vodka 2024
- Australian Best Rum 2024
- Medals totalling 200+ in 4 years
a jack of all trades
Adam’s other areas of expertise in Winemaking, Project Management, Workplace Health and Safety, Co-writing distilling and safety courses, Sensory specialist, Spirit show judge and management where he loves to see his staff succeed on the development journey. He just also happens to own, and run is own company that teaches all 6 WSET courses.
Before turning to spirits, Adam spent 33 years in the international wine industry, making wine in some of the world’s most prestigious regions:
This rich, cross-disciplinary experience informs his unique approach to rum – combining a winemaker’s sensitivity to seasonality and terroir with the technical mastery of a veteran distiller.
“Sautjan Wild Rum is my personal expression of what rum can become when we let nature guide the process. It’s bold, raw, and completely unfiltered by trend or mass production,” says Chapman.
“Each bottle tells a story – of the season, the wild fermentation, and the barrel it came from.”
Adam also runs his own Wine and Spirit Inc, an education platform for WSET (Wine and Spirit Education Trust), which are world wine and spirit courses certified and ran all over the world through certified educators.
Wine and Spirit Inc courses are listed below:
- WSET Level 1 Award in Wines
- WSET Level 2 Award in Wines
- WSET Level 3 Award in Wines
- WSET Level 1 Award in Spirits
- WSET Level 2 Award in Spirits
- WSET Level 3 Award in Spirits
Below is a list of Adam's Qualificaions:
DISTILLING
- IBD - Diploma in Distilling – (Yr 1, Yr 2, Passed, Yr 3 resit req)
- IBD - General Certificate in Distilling
- WSET - Certified Spirit Educator Level 3
- WM – Certified Spirit Judge
- WSET - Level 3 Award in Spirits
- Royal Rum Society - Certified Master Rummelier
- EWA - Diploma in Single Malt Whisky
WORKPLACE HEALTH AND SAFETY
- EIT - Prof Cert in Hazardous Areas for Engineers
- ICAM - Lead Safety Investigator
- Diploma in Work, Health and Safety BSB51319
- Certificate IV in Training and Assessment TAE40122
- ISO 45001 OH&S Int Auditor
WINEMAKING
- Diploma in Winemaking
- SWE - Certified Wine Specialist
- WSET - Diploma in Wines and Spirits
- WSET - Certified Wine Educator Level 3
PROJECT MANAGEMENT/SENSORY
- Diploma in Project Management
- IBD- Spirit Sensory Analysis
- WSET - Level 3 Award in Sake
- BNI – Foundation Certificate in Sensory Science
- AWRI - Advanced Palate Assessment Course
Adam offers practical consulting backed by decades of industry experience.
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