Distilling the best

Russ Watson has always had an interest in whisky, and if it wasn’t for a suggestion after a few drinks, the Bellarine Peninsula might be without one of its finest gems.

With his wife Lorelle, the pair started the Bellarine Distillery in 2015, where they now produce premium gin and single malt whisky.

They then opened the doors to The Whiskery, the Bellarine Distillery’s “distillery door”, in 2018, welcoming patrons to enjoy their bespoke alcoholic beverages, cheese boards, fresh platters of local produce and pizzas.

“I kept talking about wouldn’t it be fun to make a whisky and she [Lorelle] just suggested one day after a few drinks, why don’t we start a distillery,” Russ said.

“The ball started to roll, and we started to investigate and meet people and discuss the whole project and at that stage, there weren’t too many around.”

Russ and Lorelle purchased a property at the corner of Scotchmans Road and Portarlington Road and started the development of the distillery.

“The property was an old free-range chicken farm, so it had a couple of lovely old rustic buildings which we had to do a lot of work on to be able to entertain the public,” Russ said.

“We were the first legal distillery to ever set up on the Bellarine Peninsula…we were at the forefront of this resurgence with distilleries.

“It was an interesting time and during that early period the goal was to make a whisky and make the best whisky we could possibly make.”

Craig Michael stepped onto the scene at the distillery back in 2017, volunteering one day a week.

He was later joined by his wife Nicky Michael when the pair became equal partners in the business with Russ and Lorelle.

Craig is the head distiller at the company, holding a Bachelor of Science and a Diploma in Distilling.

“Fortunately, while I was in the middle of trying to develop the buildings and the property and clean it all up, Craig came along one day with a strong interest in whisky and said that he’d love to be around to see the whole project unfold,” Russ said.

“It’s been a wonderful union of likeminded and like personalities that have kicked on and put in the hard yards.

“We’re having a lot of fun while we’re working extremely hard to reach that initial goal of making the best possible whisky we can.”

Craig says the joy of being part of the distillery is hearing the positive feedback from customers on their products and seeing people enjoying their time at The Whiskery during events.

“It’s a great feeling, and to know what the product’s being used for when you’ve spent five plus years on a single product,” Craig said.

The team are dedicated to making the best whisky, though not just in Geelong.

They want to be up there with some of the best in the world.

“We started with this dream to make a whisky and we’ve now filled over 100 casks of spirit into oak that’s maturing,” Russ said.

The team at the Bellarine Distillery also produce gins, with Russ saying the “arduous” production of their gin products includes individual distilling which results in each gin’s characters being remarkably different.

“We didn’t want to have a bland choice of gins that were all basically the same.

“We go to a lot of trouble to create each batch; there’s a lot of love that goes into creating each one.

A range of botanicals are grown on the property and combined with other Australian botanicals to incorporate into their unique gins.

The distillery’s Teddy and the Fox gin won the Melbourne International Spirits Competition in 2022, while the distillery itself took home the Australian Gin Distillery of the Year award.

It’s one of five gins made by Bellarine Distillery and is available for tasting at the Whiskery, stocked at restaurants in Melbourne and available online.

Through years of hard work, the team has created a thriving business that now employs 36 people who assist in the day-to-day operations and production of its products which draw national and international tourists to the peninsula.

“The sense of pride from achieving something like that, in a short period of time, is quite fantastic,” Russ said.

“We’ve had some amazing people through the venue, and we’ve developed some wonderful friendships with people that just came in as customers and are now dear friends.

“You can’t do all this, particularly without good staff and people around you. You can’t do it all on your own.”

For the distillery team, their future goal is all about making the best whisky and premium product, with everything else that happens along the way being a bonus.

“The goal is to finish what we’ve started here in terms of expansion and get our volumes up a bit, keeping the quality always at the forefront of our minds,” Craig said.

For more, head to bellarinedistillery.com.au