Alchemy Distillers Opens In Healesville For Gin, Vodka and Whiskey
Alchemy Distillers has launched and hit the ground running in the Yarra Valley. There's nothing more exciting than a new distillery opening in your part of the world. Visits to wineries are a favourite past time but these days you can also visit distilleries and Alchemy Distillers is one of the most exciting openings in the Yarra Valley for some time.
For a start the passion behind the venture is captivating, the romance and the vision inspirational. Evan Kipping Co-founder and Distiller is fashioning this distillery as a labour of love. He has spent endless hours setting the venture up, coming from a hospitality background. He has sourced fine equipment and he is already producing products of high quality from the start.
Alchemy (noun) – Taking base materials and turning them into something extraordinary.
Tucked away via a laneway in the main street of Healesville, the team behind Alchemy have brought new life to a turn of the century bakery, with the most noticeable addition being the 1000 Litre Hybrid Pot Still. “We’re staying true to the building’s origins but instead of baking bread we are making spirits with grain” says Evan Kipping (Co-founder/Distiller). The Hybrid Pot Still allows more versatility than your more traditional still styles enabling Alchemy Distillers to open offering three core products – Chamomile Gin, Quinoa Vodka, Moonshine and alongside a variety of limited small batch spirits.
This unique concept is inspired by a true love for adventure which founders Evan Kipping and Jannick Zester say is “key to creativity. Having the freedom to explore and the ability to walk our own path is so important for us. We are free to discover, push into new avenues and that’s what Alchemy Distillers is all about; the adventure and living life on your own terms.”
“Sinking our teeth into making multiple sprits has allowed us to collaborate with local producers. We’ve been overwhelmed with support and are currently playing with local strawberries, kumquats and grapes from Yarra Valley”, explains Jannick Zester (Co-founder/Distiller)
The venue is a cellar door bar and distillery hybrid with an outside greenery-filled beer garden. Available tastings of the Alchemy range and distillery tours are on offer. Behind the bar features a menu of classic and contemporary cocktails that showcase Alchemy spirits, Victorian craft beers and Yarra Valley wines.
For guests who wish to stay, a two-bedroom apartment is available overlooking the main street.
2018 will see Alchemy Distillers pushing forward with a barrel-aging program. Created for those passionate about whiskey, 100 people will be given the opportunity to own their own twenty-litre barrel. They will be taken on the whiskey journey from mashing, fermentation, distillation and maturation. Participants will be able to visit, sample the barrel and discuss its progress with the distillers. After two years, they will have the option to release the product from bond, continue to age it at the distillery or bottle it to take it home.