Rick Prosser

Rick “Ricki” Prosser (December 19, 1974 - ) is a an Australian rum distiller. He is part of the Master Distillers' Collective, the people responsible for crafting the Bundaberg Rum’s Master Distillers Collection. Prosser’s signature appears on the label of Bundaberg 10 Year Old Rum, Port Barrel, Golden Reserve, Dark Oak, and the Gold MDC 5 Double Barrel. Prosser is married to Kylie (Nash) Prosser, and has three children: Josephine, Jye, and Chloe.
Early Life
Prosser was born in at Darlinghurst, Sydney, Australia, to parents Dianne and Noel Prosser. His first lived in Bondi, Sydney, for the first 6 months of his life before moving to Mayfield, Newcastle, NSW where he lived for the next 12 years.
Prosser attended St. Columbian’s Primary School in Newcastle from 1980-1986.
He spent most of his recreational time either involved in rugby league playing for Waratah JRL or competing in athletics. He represented the Waratah Athletics club before switching to Woodberry.
In May 1984, Prosser’s father Noel was injured in a serious workplace accident at the Civic Theatre, Newcastle, where he was employed as a stage and rigging technician. Noel and a fellow co-worker were shutting down the theatre as a load slipped from the main stage curtain. Prosser’s father took the weight of the curtain, rupturing 3 discs on his vertebrae. He underwent surgery in which doctors fused bone to the spine to help regain strength and movement.
Moving to Bundaberg
In the school holiday season of September 1986, Prosser and his father went to North Queensland, Australia to look for a property to purchase. Moving to a warmer climate was needed because Noel was finding the winters of Newcastle hard to handle with his injury.
After viewing properties from Townsville to Marybough, the family decided on Bundaberg as their new place of residence. In December 1986 the Prosser family relocated there.
Prosser attended his final year of primary school at West State School before attending Bundaberg State High and Shalom Catholic College.
Working at the Bundaberg Distilling Company
At a family barbecue at the Nash residence (in-laws) one weekend during the slack season, Prosser noticed that the main stack of the Millaquin sugar mill was still operating. When he asked his father-in-law if he knew why it was still running, his father-in-law informed him that it was producing the steam for the refinery and rum distillery. A light bulb went off in Rick’s mind upon hearing “rum distillery.”
At around this time, Rick’s mother Dianne was managing a job placement agency called Drake, which at the time were looking after placements at the distillery and currently had an opening for a watchman during a two-week Christmas shutdown. The role was just to make sure the compound and surrounding bond stores were secure. It was also around this time that a part-time position became available in the bottling hall. Once production started after the break, Prosser continued these roles for the next four years during the slack season since Bundaberg Sugar only offered employment for 10 months of the year at the time.
In 2004, Rick Prosser decided to leave the sugar industry and apply for a permanent full-time role with the Bundaberg Distilling Company.
While working in the bottling plant, Prosser was transferred into the Maturation department where after two months a full-time position became available, and Prosser applied for the job.
Over the next couple of years, Prosser maintained his role in the bonds section of the company before taking on the role of blending house operator early 2006. In this position, Prosser took care of every final product that Bundaberg Distillery bottled.
Bundaberg Master Distillers Collection
During a camping trip to a nearby beach in 2010, Prosser and two of his work colleagues decided to create a new product for Bundaberg Rum .
They approached the site manager at the time for some funding and were able to establish the Master Distillers Collection. The signatures of Prosser and his two colleagues appeared on the bottles for 10 Year Old, Port Barrel, Golden Reserve, Dark Oak and the Gold Medal MDC 5 Double Barrel. MDC 5 would be the last Bundaberg Rum bottle with Prosser's signature.
The Collection has won numerous worldwide awards in the past three years.
Present
Currently, Rick’s maintains work-life balance by dedicating time to his family. He also trains and races, after developing a newfound passion for triathlons. In addition, he plays drums in a duo with Bundaberg Music Icon Todd Keightly. On the work front, he has just finished working with his work colleagues in creating the spirit for Bundaberg Rums 125 Year anniversary release.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu