Viral response has April fools pranksters re-floating rum idea, but it’s a bit tricky
Sunshine and Sons co-founders Michael Conrad and Matt Hobson prepare to sink their Rum Reef.
It started out as an April Fool’s Day joke: to create a “Rum Reef” on the site of a local ship wreck.
It was based on a true story. “In 1880, the vessel The Agnes sank in the mouth of the Maroochy River after striking a large rock. The ensuing salvage effort recovered dozens of cases of Queensland rum and as the history books tell - one hell of a party started,” the guys from Woombye’s Sunshine & Sons posted.
They then detailed plans to bring those festivities to the 21st century with the sinking and eventual recovery of barrels of their Nil Desperandum rum adjacent to the site of the 140 year-old wreck.
It was posted on April 1. It was a joke.
But the stunt gathered so much interest that they began to think it actually had legs.
“As some people rightly suspected the Rum Reef was all an April fools stunt,” said Sunshine and Sons co-founder Matt Hobson. “Even so, we weren’t quite expecting the radio interviews, media, and unprecedented interest it generated in our rapidly approaching Nil Desperandum rum release.
“It reinforced that rum drinkers love our slightly wacky ideas. So this will hopefully not be the last you hear of it. It’s definitely put some real ideas in the pipeline ...”
Matt said the idea of rum being sunk and aged by the surf, sun, and sand was an appealing idea but the practicalities were a barrier. “We’ll keep you posted,” he said. “Stay tuned.”