Local gin to open distillery

GREAT Ocean Road Gin is planning to turn a new warehouse space into a distillery in the next 12 months.

The gin celebrates the Surf Coast region with one brew affectionately named “Guvvos” after the surf beach between Aireys and Anglesea and another “Split Point”, a “navy strength” gin named after the lighthouse at Aireys. Growing up a “regular weekender and holiday-maker for over 40 years”.

Owner and distiller Ann Houlihan and her family officially made the sea change to Anglesea in 2017.

“We opened the Tasting Room and Gin Garden in 2018 and have a new warehouse space in Torquay that we will convert into a distillery within the next 12 months.”

The gin celebrates local flora as well as local geography, with nine local botanicals used in their gin.

“We have 24 botanicals in our gin, nine of these are local, including saltbush, coast daisy, pig face, kelp, three different types of local eucalyptus, local honey from Torquay called Surf Coast honey and hop wattle. I also try to use as much local citrus as I can but this is seasonal. We have a new grapefruit-cello gin that features some local grapefruit from Anglesea and Aireys and our raspberry gin liqueur uses heritage breed raspberries from Bannockburn,” Ms Houlihan said.

Like many businesses, Ms Houlihan said she was looking forward to continued easing of restrictions so more and more people could flow through the Gin Garden.

“It has been a difficult time for hospitality and the challenges are still there in the number of people we are allowed to serve safely. We have continued to do production of our gin since May and our wholesale business has helped us survive.”

Great Ocean Road Gin is open on Fridays 4-8pm, Saturdays 12:30-8pm and Sundays 12.30-6pm.