Archie Rose, Four Pillars among Australian distilleries who don’t make their own alcohol

Jun 24, 2023

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Most Australian distilleries buy alcohol to make gin and vodka from corporate agribusinesses rather than distil it themselves, and there are claims the practice is cheating consumers.

Gin and vodka are typically made with alcohol fermented from grain, but gin is infused with additional ingredients - juniper berries and other botanicals – that give it flavour.

Some Australian distillers who make their own alcohol from scratch have criticised the practice of buying in base alcohol and called for better labelling to create transparency.

Prominent distilleries such as Archie Rose and Four Pillars are among the brands that use a base spirit purchased from companies such as Manildra Group.

"We are looking for the cleanest possible base spirit for us to distil our botanicals – to let the botanical flavours, not the residual base spirit, shine," an Archie Rose spokesman said.

Holly Klintworth's Bass & Flinders Distillery distills a grape-based spirit produced by a local winemaker.Credit: Simon Schluter

A Four Pillars spokesman estimated more than 95 per cent of Australian and international gin distillers buy high-proof ethanol and distil it with proprietary botanicals and methods.

"We actually love the rectified spirit we source from Manildra," he said. "It's a purer and cleaner spirit than we would ever be able to produce ourselves."

But distillers such as David Goethe-Hooper, master distiller at Defiance Distillery in Melbourne, say the use of base alcohol is deceptive.

Master Distiller David Goethe-Hooper says consumers of many local craft gins are "effectively … drinking redistilled ethanol without knowing".Credit: Jason South

Goethe-Hooper said consumers of many local craft gins are "effectively … drinking redistilled ethanol without knowing".

"A lot of consumers would not like to hear that the gin is not actually being made from start to finish at said distilleries," he said.

The Melbourne-based gin, rum and whisky maker is among the minority of Australian distilleries that makes its own alcohol.

"It kind of feels like the use of ethanol is cheating and discounts the hard work that is required to present to the consumer a product that we know is truly handmade from grain to bottle," he said.

Goethe-Hooper said labels on bottles should state whether a product is made with alcohol fermented on site or a neutral spirit.

It is a view shared by Panezski Artisan Distillery co-founder Vanessa Chapman, who said the use of base spirits to make vodka "is almost making us a laughing stock to other vodka-producing countries".

"We feel this is a complete, straight out money grab as a way to deceive the customer," she said.

Chapman said the Gold Coast-based Panezski Artisan Distillery that she runs with husband Paul is a complete grain-to-bottle distillery and that they did all their own mashing, fermenting and distilling on site.

Hurdle Creek Still director Simon Brooke-Taylor expressed concern that the practice using industrial alcohol to make vodka is harmful to the industry.

In contrast, he said the standard practice for making some styles of gin is to use a neutral grain spirit for the base.

Australian Distillers Association president Holly Klintworth said it was the peak body's view that there is nothing untoward about buying in spirit and repurposing it into a new product for sale.

But she is an advocate for greater transparency about where ingredients come from.

"I also think we as an industry have a job to do in educating people on the different approaches to production, so they can make more informed purchasing decisions," she said.

Klintworth's Bass & Flinders Distillery distills a grape-based spirit produced by a local winemaker, which she estimated cost three times more than purchasing neutral spirit from an external source.

"It's the price we’re willing to pay though for having greater control over our own raw materials, and we feel it makes for a great tasting artisanal spirit too," she said.

Artisan Distilleries Of Australia founder Robin Mulligan said he did not believe the use of neutral spirit was harmful to the industry.

"I do think that a large section of the alcohol consuming public is mostly unaware of the separation between the alcohol producers that make their own base alcohol and those that buy it," he said.

Manildra Group produces neutral grain neutral alcohol at its distillery in Nowra for industries including food and beverage, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, a spokeswoman said.

"Our premium base alcohol is like a blank canvas for distillers from which they can craft spirits like vodkas, gins, liquors and ready-to-drink products, that explore local flavours, ingredients and regions."

The stoush over gin and vodka follows a debate over whether a century-old Australian law dictating what constitutes whisky should be overturned to include spirits matured for just two weeks.

The Archie Rose spokesman said it was difficult for distillers to create a high quality neutral spirit that did not contain unusual grain, sugar or grape flavour notes.

"We’d rather focus on building flavour into our spirits in the form of our cold distilled botanicals as opposed to stripping flavour out," he said. "It's just more interesting and reflects what we’re fundamentally about."

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